Code: Sequel
by eko24
Summary: After the shutdown of the Supercomputer, Emma and her friends thought they'd be able to live normally with each other. As it turns out X.A.N.A. survived. Emma visits her family and discovers the virus lurking in the computer of a tech-geek family friend's apartment. When the virus follows Emma back to France the group has to work to destroy it once again. Rated T for language.
1. Vacation Plans

"You pumped up for the game tomorrow?" Odd asked Aelita and Emma as he and Ulrich walked them to the soccer practice field one cloudy day after classes had ended. It has been three months since the shutdown of the super computer and the soccer season was coming to a close. The girls' team was going head to head for the last time to claim the title of best team in the division. The boys' team was safe at number one; they'd had their last match the previous week.

"I'm so nervous," Aelita confided. "What if Lincoln has a better strategy than us? What if they managed to beef up their offense?"

"Don't worry Aelita, Emma will make sure they never have the ball," Ulrich assured her. "Besides, you're the best goalie in your division so I wouldn't count on Lincoln getting the best of you."

"I need to work on my game though, the team last week managed to steal the ball from me," Emma chimed in. "And that is unacceptable."

"We know, you sulked for days after that. It was a fluke thing," Ulrich chuckled.

They reached the field and Aelita and Emma set their things on a bench. "Want me to stay?" Odd asked. "I have nothing better to do until later on."

"Jim might want to use you to help with practice," Aelita announced. In fact she knew that Jim wanted an assistant; he'd told them so at the last practice.

"You're right about that, Aelita," Jim said, coming from the equipment shed. "Della Robbia, Stern, you're going to help me whip these girls into shape for tomorrow's game!"

"They're pretty fantastic as it is," Ulrich stated. "Sorry, Jim, I have somewhere I need to be."

"Oh, well who needs you?" Jim said, sounding disappointed. "Odd, can I count on you to stick around?" he asked. "You can help ensure our victory!"

"I have your back, Jim. What do you want me to do?" Odd asked as Jim threw him a soccer ball from the sack he was carrying.

Ulrich waved goodbye. "I'll be in the rec room with Jeremie and Yumi. I'll see you later," he said to the girls as Jim and Odd walked together to the middle of the field. Aelita and Emma watched him go and then gulped down some water and ran onto the field to join the other girls. Odd had a devious look in his eyes.

"Oh, lord. What are we in for?" Emma asked, sounding worried. Aelita chuckled and knew that they would be sore by the end of the day.

Meanwhile in the rec room Yumi was teaching Jeremie how to play foosball. She found that he was actually very good at the game if he was seriously trying to play. He never really put any effort into playing well while they were dealing with X.A.N.A., and now she was having trouble beating him.

"Whoa, how did that just happen?" Ulrich asked as he approached them, witnessing Jeremie's score.

"She's giving me some tips," Jeremie explained. "And it turns out that I'm pretty good."

"Wow, that's weird," Ulrich said with a grin. "Don't tell Odd, you could probably con a soda or something off of him."

"That's the plan, where is he?" Jeremie asked.

"Being Jim's assistant, probably torturing the girls' soccer team. They'll probably join us when they are done," Ulrich stated. "Let me play, we'll see if you can beat me."

Yumi moved and Ulrich took her place and he and Jeremie played foosball, Yumi gave Jeremie tips and soon enough they were done; the game ended in a tie. Yumi got a soda and sat down on the couch to watch TV. Ulrich and Jeremie joined her.

"So are you guys doing anything after school ends?" Jeremie asked them.

"Russia," Ulrich answered. "And then possibly England, I'm making the rounds with relatives."

"Staying home and helping my parents renovate the house," Yumi answered. "Should be a blast," she said sarcastically. "What about you, Jeremie?"

"Aelita and I are going to the UK," he told them excitedly. "I'm mapping out a travel route so we can check out some key museums and historical landmarks. It should be a lot of fun!"

"You waste vacation on educational exploits?" Ulrich asked incredulously. "Incredible."

An hour passed and the movie that Yumi had picked got boring, "Okay, I'm incredibly bored, who wants to go watch the practice?" Yumi asked.

"They should be done soon," Ulrich noted, checking his watch. "I'd like to see how they look for tomorrow," he stated.

Jeremie shrugged. "Fine by me, let's go."

Yumi led the way out of the rec room and toward the field. Ulrich walked beside her and she felt his arm brush against hers and moved away slightly on instinct. He took notice and she looked away, trying not to blush. When the three of them reached the soccer field they witnessed Emma commanding the ball. Odd was running parallel to her. Other members of the team were trying to take the ball or separate the two of them but they were either too quick or too clever for the other girls. Emma passed the ball to Odd and he ran with it, dodging the girls team the best he could. He looked like he wanted to attempt a goal but decided against it and when he had the chance he passed the ball back to Emma, who was closer to the goal post now. She positioned herself to make a goal and went for it.

Aelita nearly blocked the goal but the ball was just a little too fast for her. Jim seemed very pleased.

"Great work, Emma, you'll be fantastic tomorrow! Aelita, I'm going to keep you for a little while longer so we can work on some more strategy for you. I doubt it if Lincoln will ever get the ball with Emma on the field… but we need to make sure you are prepared for anything!" Jim rambled.

"Jim, she'll do fine," Emma argued. "Trust me. I wouldn't be surprised if she let me get that in to boost my ego. We'll all be fantastic tomorrow, Lincoln doesn't stand a chance."

"Just a few minutes more. I need to be 100% sure that she can defend that post!" Jim exclaimed. He had everyone line up for a drill and Aelita proceeded to block every attempt that came at her. There were two lines and each pair had to dribble back and forth and try to score. Odd and Emma were last. Aelita blocked every single attempt and Jim finally let them leave.

Jeremie offered water straight away to a panting Aelita and Emma shared her water with Odd. "Odd, did you really have to go all out?" Emma asked him. "If my legs fall off tonight I blame you."

Odd grinned and winked at his girlfriend. "If you can keep up with me after I've had a few shots of espresso, you can massacre Lincoln."

Emma rolled her eyes. "You are insane."

"So what did you guys do while we were practicing?" Aelita asked Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi.

"I taught Jeremie to play foosball and we watched a lame film," Yumi answered.

"Wow, you any good?" Emma asked Jeremie and he shrugged.

"I guess I'm alright," he said.

"Let's go play before dinner!" Odd exclaimed. "We'll see if you've improved at all since last time I slaughtered you!"

You won't beat me this time, Odd," Jeremie challenged.

"Wanna bet?" Odd asked. Aelita could swear she saw Yumi's lips curl slightly in a smirk. Ulrich shook his head.

"I need a shower," Emma stated. "I'll meet you guys in the rec room later."

* * *

**A/N Yes, I am back! THis is a sequel to Code: Emma. I will post a link to that before you read this.**

**oh and blah blah blah I don't own Code Lyoko**

**but I do own Emma Kozlov!**

**Link to Code: Emma: s/8773573/1/Code-Emma**


	2. News

I was just about to enter the dorm building when I heard someone call my name.

"Emma!" I turned to see Sissi approaching, she had a letter in her hand. "This came for you in the mail today. It got mixed in with someone else's mail by accident and my father asked me to deliver it."

I took the letter from her, "thanks, Sissi." I saw the look on her face and scowled. "Is there something wrong?"

"My father wants me to go to school closer to my mother so I can spend some time with her so I won't be back next year," she said sadly. I opened the door and let her in first and followed her inside.

"That's too bad…" I said sadly. To be honest I have been growing fond of Sissi; she really turned out to be a nice friend to have outside of my core group. "it sounds like a nice idea though."

Sissi shook her head, "My mom and dad split ages ago… And she didn't fight for me, obviously… I don't understand why she would suddenly want to see me."

I shrugged. "I don't know what the situation is there, but I'm sure if she wants to see you there is a good reason behind it. Think of this as an adventure. Adventures are fun if you have a positive outlook on them."

She nodded, "I guess I shouldn't complain about mother issues with you anyway," she said abruptly. I laughed but she continued. "I'm sorry, Emma, here I am complaining about not wanting to go see my mother, and you don't have a choice."

"It's okay, Sissi," I assured her as we reached our floor. "I miss my mother sometimes but whenever that happens I just remember how much she suffered toward the end… and now she's not suffering. Anyway, I feel disgusting; I'm going to take a shower and I will see you later," I told her as we came to my room. She nodded and waved goodbye with a smile and I unlocked my door and let myself into my room.

I set the letter on my desk and dropped my gym bag onto the floor and took a seat at my desk. "Guess I'll read this before I forget about it," I said to myself and took the letter in my hands and read the address; it was from my father.

I tore it open and unfolded the paper, a few rectangular pieces of card paper and some money fell out and I looked at what they were; they were plane tickets! I gasped and read the letter. My dad wanted me to come visit him in the U.S. during the break. There was a ticket from here to New York, a ticket from New York to Michigan, and return tickets back. I looked at the money and saw there were 50 Euros and 50 American dollars. In the letter my father mentioned that the money was for the taxi to the airport and also for spending money during the trip there.

"Whoa," I breathed. I wasn't sure what to think. Would going to America be a good idea? Flying all by myself… It was a terrifying concept. Out of habit I checked my cellphone for messages and found there was a new message from Odd with just a heart. I sent one back and then grabbed my shower bag and headed for the showers. I ran into Aelita in the bathroom outside of the showers; she'd just taken one too.

"I have news for all of you when we meet in the rec room," I told her and closed myself into the shower room before she could question me.

I thought about it more and more while I was in the shower and just scared myself more. "This will be the first two weeks away from Odd…" I said to myself. At least, since I started at Kadic in November. It would be my first time away from the whole group. Because of X.A.N.A. and Lyoko I found that I was really attached to all of them, I wasn't sure how a trip like this would go. Especially being a whole Continent away.

I returned to my room, tied my hair into a bun, and dressed in clean clothes. I grabbed my phone and headed out to the rec room.

* * *

**Link to Code Emma: s/8773573/1/Code-Emma**

**I don't own Code Lyoko but I do own Emma Kozlov**


	3. Breaking the News

Everyone was sitting around the couch. When they spotted me their eyes locked onto mine and I looked at Aelita; she'd warned them that I had news for them.

"Hey, how is everyone?" I asked.

"Waiting for your news," Odd responded swiftly as I took my seat next to him.

"My father wants me to go to America for the break," I said simply. I avoided Odd's eyes; I knew he'd be disappointed.

"That sounds great!" Yumi said. "You haven't seen your dad since you came here."

I nodded. "He sent me the plane tickets and money for the airports. The only problem is that I'm kind of terrified to fly alone… I've only flown twice and both times they weren't long and I was with Odd."

"Yeah these are going to be at least 8 hour flights," Ulrich stated. "Where in the states are you going? You said he lives in Michigan, right?"

"I am flying to New York first and then flying to Michigan from there," I clarified.

"What day are you leaving?" Odd asked sullenly.

"The flights are for next Friday," I said and squeezed his hand. "I'm not sure if my phone will work from there but I will stay in contact somehow," I assured him.

"Your phone won't work from there unless we pay extra to get an overseas deal with the company," Jeremie told me. "We can do that, if you want."

I shook my head, "No, I don't think that's necessary… Odd, do you have a computer at your house? My dad says he has one now with a webcam so I can email and video chat with you."

Odd nodded. "You can take my camera with you so you can show me what it's like," he told me. "I'm going to miss you though… I was really hoping you'd be able to come home with me."

"Well now we can spend time with our families," I said, not even convincing myself. "I mean… yeah this will be the first time since I came to Kadic that we'll be apart for more than a day…"

He jumped up and pulled me up with him. "Let's go for a walk together."

I stopped him. "No, wait. I have something else… have you guys talked to Sissi yet today?"

They collectively shook their heads. "Why?" Ulrich asked.

"She's not coming back next year," I said quietly even though we were the only ones in the rec room. Everyone was on their way to dinner, probably.

"What?" Jeremie asked. "Why? Her father is the principal."

"He wants her to spend some time with her mother. She's going to school closer to her mom so she can live with her for a while. Wild, right?" I asked. "I'm going to miss her…"

"I won't be here either, next year…" Yumi said sadly. "I wish this school moved past grade ten."

"You'll be in the city still, so we'll be able to visit you whenever you want," Aelita said with a smile. "It is a bummer though…"

"We can always use Hiroki as a go between, too," Jeremie suggested.

"Yeah, that'll go well. Better leave it to Johnny, he'll actually take the job seriously," Ulrich snorted.

Odd pulled at my arm impatiently. "Okay, bye guys!" I said and left with him. He led me off school grounds to the woods. "Do you want me to go with you to the airport?" he asked me.

I want you to come with me to America, I thought. "Yeah, that would probably settle my nerves a little."

"You know it's just two weeks… but I just have a weird feeling that we should all stay together over break," he said quietly. "I just don't want us all to be apart, I guess."

I nodded, "especially since things are going to be different when we come back… Yumi won't be with us."

"Right. Yumi has been a good friend ever since I came to Kadic in 8th grade," Odd stated. "Its sad we can't all be in the same grade."

"At least I'm in the same grade as you. I'm a year younger than you…" I stated.

"You're just a super genius," he said with a grin. "I'm glad though, classes wouldn't be the same without you."

We kept a slow pace as we continued walking through the forest; it was starting to get nice and warm outside so I pulled my hoodie off and tied it around my waist. We sat down beneath a dry tree and I curled up in his arms and we talked until it got dark out, of course we realized too late that we'd missed dinner.

"This is a really terrible habit that we have," I commented when he pointed out how late it was. "Should we grab something from a vender? I have money for some crepes."

"Sounds good. You sure you want to pay?" he asked as I stood up. I grabbed his hands and pulled him up, bringing him to a kiss.

"I got this," I told him and pulled him with me out of the forest. I knew the city well enough now to know there was a decent crepe vender nearby who liked me. He always piled on the veggies and cheese at no extra charge and never cared much if I was a euro or two short.

I ordered two crepes and he got to work making them for us and Odd and I sat down on a bench nearby to wait. When we got our food we ate and went back to the school; luckily nobody had noticed that we were gone so we didn't get in any trouble.

"Thanks for dinner," Odd said when we reached my floor. He waved as if to say goodnight and I shook my head.

"Oh, no, you don't! you're not going to your room to play video games," I told him with a laugh. "We have some studying to do."

I dragged him to my room and we spent the remainder of the night studying and cuddling until he left to go to his room at around midnight.


	4. Sighting

The rest of the school year went by swiftly. Our soccer team won the game against Lincoln 4 to 0, I finished all of my final exams, we helped each other pack up our things for the end of the year on Thursday. We spent the evening hanging out together and Odd slept with me in my room. He took me to the airport in the morning for my flight. He insisted on paying for the taxi. When we got there he walked with me up until I had to go through security and the like, and kissed me goodbye.

"I gave you my email address and the url for my blog, so make sure when you get to your dad's house to write to me so I know you're safe, alright?" he asked me.

"Don't worry about me," I told him. "I promise I'll stay in touch."

I went through security and found my gate. There were still 15 minutes left before I could board so I decided a snack would be a good idea. I went to a small shop and got bottled milk and a croissant and ate. I stuffed the milk in my bag and boarded the plane and found my seat. I had a window seat and it turned out that there was nobody else in my row. The downside to this plane was there were no individual TVs so I didn't have anything to do.

So for 8 hours I slept, or tried to sleep… When that didn't work I settled for reading a novel that Yumi lent me. When the plane arrived in New York I took a deep breath and stood up; this was it.

I got off the plane and followed the crowd into the airport where I got in line to check in my passport and verify that I was supposed to fly to New York. The man behind the counter must have noticed that I looked incredibly lost and panicked.

"Would you like me to send for someone to guide you?" he asked. I was pleasantly surprised that he spoke French.

"That would be very helpful, yes please," I said. I thought I probably sounded a little too polite, it was a bad habit I had because men in uniform were a bit intimidating.

He got on the phone and spoke English, asking for a guide for me. I only had to wait two minutes before a perky brunette woman shimmied out of a corner room to help me.

"May I see your ticket?" she asked me. I handed her the next ticket I would be using and she read it and handed it back in seconds and started herding me toward the part of the airport that I needed to be in. We got on the moving floor and I looked out the window to see New York City was very yellow, as in the majority of the cars were yellow, and it didn't look like there was a building less than five stories tall. I was extremely glad that I wasn't going there; I could just picture myself getting lost and feeling incredibly small and insignifant amongst all of the people who roamed the streets. When my guide and I came to the end of the moving floor she showed me to my gate.

"Would you like me to wait with you until your flight arrives?" she asked me with a polite smile.

"No thank you, you've been a great help already. I have things under control from here," I replied just as kindly.

"From what your tickets said, your luggage will be sent to the next airport so they should be there by the time you get there. When your flight lands don't forget to go to the luggage claim to pick up your things!" she reminded me before waving goodbye and prancing off.

When she was gone I decided to browse the airport shops for a little while because the plane wasn't due to begin boarding for another hour. I looked around and saw some things my dad would probably like. I also grabbed a sandwich and a soda because I was starving and I hadn't really eaten on the plane.

The flight passed quickly, being only about an hour. When I got off the plane I was immediately greeted by my father who wrapped me up in a bear hug like none other that he'd ever given me. I took a good look at him and saw he looked a lot different; he was clean shaven and just looked a lot healthier. Also he had a woman with him.

"Emma, I'm glad to see you made it!" he said to me and I smiled, it was refreshing to hear Russian again. The only time I got to speak Russian now was with Ulrich when he was feeling adventurous and wanted to learn more of the language he had a minimal knowledge of. Sometimes Odd wanted me to say some things in Russian but it wasn't often, usually we just used Italian or French when we talked to each other.

"Father, I'm happy too. It was kind of scary but I made it!" I said happily as we walked together to the baggage claim. The woman he had with him didn't speak up until we had my luggage and we were going to find the car my father was driving. She let me sit in the front seat with him as he drove.

"Oh!" he said abruptly when we piled into the car. He looked back to the woman as if he'd forgotten she was with us. "This is Marian," he told me. "I met her at the college I am attending. She is from Russia, like us, and she came here to America ten years ago with her family."

"It is good to meet you, Emma, you are as precious as your father is always saying," she said to me. It sounded to me that she was trying to repress her Russian accent and I couldn't figure out why.

"So tell me everything," my father said as we left the airport. "How did school go?"

I thought about it; I obviously couldn't tell him everything. "Well, it was wonderful.. I told you about my friends, Odd, Jeremie, Ulrich, Aelita, and Yumi, they all made school really fantastic for me…"

"Yes, Odd took you to Italy with him," my dad recalled.

I nodded. "And he and Ulrich taught me martial arts and Jeremie and Aelita are our class's valedictorians, so they are great to study with. My grade point average is only a point or two below Aelita's."

"They sound like great friends," Marian speculated. "Jeremie and Aelita both seem very smart, I hope they don't spend all of their time studying though. You kids need to make sure you're being social."

"Aelita was on the soccer team with me and Jeremie is starting a robotics club next year. There are always robot competitions but there hasn't been an official club yet. I don't think many people will join, it will probably be me, Aelita, Jeremie, and this one other kid in our class who is always competing with Jeremie," I told her. "And we always hang out in the rec room with people so don't worry, we're not cooped up in our rooms all day."

"That's good," she said with a smile.

"How is martial arts going?" my dad asked. I told him all about how I beat Ulrich last time we practiced together. I was pretty proud of myself for it, my dad was too. I loved that I got to talk with him, it felt a lot better to talk face to face than through paper.

When we got to his apartment building I looked around to see we were in a collection of two story buildings. My father explained that there were four apartments in each building, two on the bottom and two on top. His apartment was in the sixth building, it was number 4 so it was on the second floor to the right of the stairs. Marian apparently lived in building five, number 1. She was on the main floor and even had her own small patio that was gated in. The grass was a deep green and flower gardens lined all of the paths. I could even see a swimming pool in the center of all of the buildings. The building themselves were bricked with fire engine red bricks and stood strong, as if they'd only recently been built.

"Emma, did you bring a bathing suit?" my father asked me as we walked the path to his building.

I shook my head, "I did not. I didn't know there was a pool."

"I have one you can have, it's too small for me and I think it will be adorable on you," Marien told me. "You're so tiny!"

"My girl is 13 now, she's a young lady," my dad laughed.

"Thank you, Marian," I said politely.

"Come with me to my apartment and I'll get it for you," she said to me and my dad gave me a shove in her direction and I followed her. The path we were all on forked off in two directions; to the left was building five, to the right was building six. "I'll join you ladies after I've dropped Emma's things in her room," my dad called after us.

Marian unlocked the front door and led me to her apartment. The first thing I noticed was that the front room was very bare; all except a large computer set up. I saw that the tower had see through clear walls and there were lots of flashing cords and lights. I admired the large double monitors and wireless keyboards and mouse. The computer sat on a large computer desk and there were files and books lying around all over the place. I figured that she must be a computer sciences major.

She caught my looking at it and cleared her throat. "I'm a bit of a gamer," she said sheepishly. "Plus I'm working toward a computer sciences degree so building this computer was both an assignment, and a great pleasure. It's the most power computer in the area. Not many people around here care about computer sciences, it's mostly all automotive sciences and business."

I nodded, "it really is a nice computer," I remembered something just then. I shoved my hand in my pocket and took out a slip of paper. "Would you mind terribly if I sent an email to someone? My boyfriend wanted me to contact him the moment I arrived here."

She shrugged. "I trust you. Let me just log you in, I have everything passwork protected to avoid getting any kind of virus. When you have this kind of computer you need to be careful." She sat down in the big computer chair and moved the mouse to wake the computer up. "I never turn this thing off either… it has a killer energy saving sleep mode," she told me excitedly. I could really tell she was proud of her computer.

She logged into her user account and logged me into the internet. She stood up and left the room to find the bathing suit she had for me. I sat down and went to my email account. I typed out Odd's email address and composed a long letter about the flight, how Michigan looked, how my father was doing and I even mentioned Marian. I sent the email and was about to close the internet browser when I saw a flash of light flicker in and out of the screen quickly. It was only there for a second so I couldn't quite tell what it was.

"Here is that bathing suit," Marian said emerging from the hallway. "It took a moment for me to find it but here it is… try it on real quick so we can make sure it fits."

I took the pieces from her absent mindedly, still staring at the computer screen. As if delayed I started to recognize what the flashing symbol was from memory. It was all too familiar. I stood up and found the bathroom to change into the bathing suit, all the while a panic rising within me. What if we hadn't killed X.A.N.A. what if he managed to keep some part of him alive in a new computer? Some fragment of himself that we hadn't noticed when we were sweeping the internet for traces after we thought we'd killed him? Perhaps Marian's computer was too powerful for her own good…

And did she know? I shuttered to think that she might know that she had a vicious virus living inside of her computer. That would mean she was harboring an abomination, it would be like she was willingly letting a criminal hide out in her house. I struggled to figure out what I should do.

I looked in the mirror and saw that the bathing suit fit me perfectly. I left the room to show Marian and she approved. "It's yours. I wish I had a 13 year old's body, boy would that be nice…"

I laughed with her and jumped as there was a buzzing noise. She got up from the computer chair and went to the door. Next to it there was a speaker and a button. "Yes?" she asked as she held the button down.

"It's me, Marian," my father's fuzzy voice answered. She pressed the button beside it and walked back over to me.

"So, take the bathing suit. Did you send your email?" she asked me.

"I did," I said to her. "But sometimes emails don't send from my account for some reason, can I just check to be sure?"

"Of course," she said. My father knocked at the door and let himself in then.

"Emma, that's a nice bathing suit," he complimented and I nodded absently, looking at the computer screen, willing the symbol to flash again so I could stop feeling like I was just being paranoid.

"I'm letting her keep it; it looks so good on her!" Marian gushed. "Hey, can you take a look at the light fixture in my room? The bulbs flicker sometimes and it drives me crazy," she said to him and they left the front room to go check it out.

I minimized the browser and looked at her hard drive files and scanned through to see if there was anything suspicious. She had the language set to Russian so it was no trouble for me to read everything. After a few minutes of scrolling I found it, the file I wanted. I went to work copying the data and went back to the wb browser to send Jeremie a quick frantic email with the information and my suspicions. Marian and my father returned a moment later. I went to the bathroom to change back into my clothes and clutched the bathing suit within tense fists as I exited. I ould feel my heart rate escalating as I dwelled on the possible X.A.N.A. sighting.

* * *

A/N: dun dun duuuuuun!

-insert doomsday music-


	5. Having Faith

"Alright, let's go to our apartment. I've started dinner for us," he said to me and I closed out the internet, hoping that Jeremie would send a response email calling me a paranoid idiot. I hoped to god that he wouldn't email me confirming my fear.

When I walked into my father's apartment I got the surprise of my life; I knew that my uncle was here but I had no idea that two of my aunts and two of my cousins were here too! Diana and Amy were cousins who were a year older than me. I barely had a chance to walk into the front room when they sandwiched me between them in a group hug, squealing their greeting.

"Emma!" they exclaimed in unison. I cringed, thinking about how often they did that. It was a little creepy the way they talked around each other; If it wasn't saying things in unison, it was finishing each other's sentences. It was a creepy skill that most twins seemed to have.

"Diana and Amy, are you guys living here too?" I asked, somewhat confused.

Diana nodded. "We stayed in Slovakia for a while to settle affairs after Barbara and Anna's murder…" she started.

"But we're moving in with your dad to go to school. He says they have a nice public school system and they'll teach us English as we go," Amy finished.

I nodded and a wonderful aroma took over my senses and I followed my nose to the kitchen, where my aunts and my father were cooking. My father was manning the sautéed vegetables, my aunt was cooking sausages, and my other aunt was cookie pierogis. I was in heaven.

My father caught my look and smiled. "Welcome home, Emma."

"I'm going to tell Rosa to make this stuff sometime," I announced as I watched them cook. "She always makes great Italian and French food but she doesn't branch out much."

"Well this will definitely fatten you up. You're too skinny," my aunt told me and proceeded to grab my arm and hold it up. "Skin and bone," she scolded. I laughed and pulled my arm away.

"I eat a lot, don't worry. I'm also very active. Don't worry about me."

Dinner was wonderful, I got to talk with my family and catch up with everybody. Marian showed up toward the end of the night with drinks and I went with my cousins to my room, where they had a laptop waiting for us to use. They showed me the school they would be going to and I showed them some pictures of Kadic that I had.

"Who are they?" Amy asked, pointing to Ulrich and Odd in one of the pictures. It was a photo I took at one of their soccer games and they were teaming up to score a goal.

"Ulrich is the brunette, and Odd is the blonde," I told them.

"Did he dye his hair purple there?" Diana asked, getting a closer look. She pointed it out to Amy.

"It's natural. Trust me, I've seen his family, all of his sisters have some kind of purple in their hair too," I told them.

"Oh!" Amy said suddenly. "Odd is your boyfriend isn't he? I saw you mentioned him in a letter. You said he took you to Italy with him?"

I nodded and smiled. "He's a wonderful boyfriend."

"I'd rather have Ulrich," Diana announced with a giggle. "They are both cute though."

"Ulrich is kind of almost dating this girl," I told her and showed her a picture that Yumi was in.

"Is everyone in France beautiful?" Amy asked, sounding disappointed. "You sure have nice looking friends."

"Thanks, Amy," I said. "To be honest though I don't think of anyone as unattractive… But my friends are very nice people. Everyone that I've met in France has turned out to be very kind to me."

"That's great, Emma! We were really rooting for you when we heard you'd be going to school in France," Amy said with a smile.

"Since it was all you've wanted since you were little," Diana added. "We're all so happy it's working out! Especially because you're doing really well in classes and also making good friends… we were worried you'd be that little weirdo in the corner that never spoke to anyone."

"Thanks for having faith in me," I said sarcastically.

The night passed slowly and Diana and Amy eventually went to sleep curled up on a pile of blankets on the floor and I checked Odd's blog and my email. I saw I had two messages, one from Odd and one from Aelita.


	6. Messages

I chose to read Odd's first because I figure good news would be nicer to see first.

Hey, Emma!

I'm so glad that your trip is going well. I miss you so much! The ferocious Five say hello and so do my parents; my mom made something for you and I think it's fantastic! I want to mail it to you because I think it's too amazing for you to wait for. What is your father's address?

It sounds like Michigan is nice but I must say it sounds a hell of a lot nicer in Europe. I'm glad you like it though! I'm happy that your father is doing well and that he has made some new friends in America, Marian sounds nice!

Email me back ASAP to tell me more! I want to know everything that happens while you're there! I'll keep you posted on what goes on around here too. Maybe we can video chat sometime too? Louise is dying to see you, she misses you a lot! so do the other girls.

Anyway, I'm sure you need to go do something more important, so I'll let you go! Love you!

Odd

I smiled at his letter and wrote back to tell him my father's address and tell him that I would love to video chat sometime, maybe my cousins could see Odd too, though there would definitely be a language barrier because they didn't speak French or Italian. When I finished wwith Odd, I moved on to Aelita's email. There was an audio message. This couldn't be good.

"Emma, Jeremie just got done reading your email and we have a big problem. X.A.N.A. is infecting that computer you talked about. You need to find out whether that woman is aware of it or not. Be careful, if she is, you could be in great danger. We don't know how strong X.A.N.A. is now but you need to watch your back, even in the beginning, X.A.N.A.'s attacks were deadly. We are going to go back to Kadic and find some way to monitor X.A.N.A. and possibly build a new Super calculator and scanners… We have all of my father's old notes and blueprints so Jeremie thinks we will be able to do it.

"Emma, I know I already said this… but be extremely careful. If X.A.N.A. knows you're there alone he might try to eliminate you. We aren't going to tell the others yet until we have a better idea of what's going on… As of right now it looks like a very small piece of X.A.N.A. is alive, not enough to spread all over the network, but if he's strong enough to activate a tower… he could become stronger and stronger. I know this message is probably really all over the place… sorry about that! Please, try to enjoy your vacation but keep an eye on that woman, and watch your back!"

I scowled, well shit, back to saving the world again…


	7. Let the Fun Commense

So the next few days I spent with Marian. She took me shopping and we went swimming together. I learned that she was an avid volunteer at a hospital, recycled, donated her books when she finished with them,,, she never even jay walked across a street. If she was working with X.A.N.A., she was a fine actress, pretending to be a good person… But I don't think so, I could tell she was a very genuine person.

"Emma, you've got a package here," my father said at the end of the week and I looked in his hands to see a slender box. He held it out and I weighed it in my hands, it was about 11 by 15 inches and about an inch thick. I opened the box and stood it up and started lifting the box up to let its contents loose. I held onto the frame and pulled the box all the way off. I nearly dropped the painting I held in my hands out of pure delight and shock.

It was a painting of Odd and I together, we were dressed in our attire from the first night in Italy when we went to dinner. I couldn't believe the detail in it. "I don't recall her having a camera… she must have done this by memory," I said to myself and my father came to see what it was and gave a pleased whistle.

"Did your boyfriend paint this?" he asked me.

"His mother painted this for me," I stated. I grabbed the box to start breaking it down and a note fell onto the floor. I picked it up and read it with a smile on my face. "yes, she painted this from memory! She said she started working on it right when she got home from Italy, she said she was inspired by how we looked together that night… She is such a sweet woman!" I gushed. I stuck the note in the back of the painting and held it out to admire it some more.

"I'm glad you met some new people," my father said to me happily. "They seem to care about you, their dexterity sure puts me to shame," he chuckled.

I elbowed him playfully. "You're a wonderful father, that's all that counts."

That night I finally got the chance to video chat with Odd. He seemed pretty anxious to get on camera, and when he finally did I could see why.

"It's gone!" I exclaimed when I saw him.

"Do you hate it?" he asked nervously. His hair was shorter, still spiky but shorter…. And it was brown! It still had the purple splotch, but it was such a drastic change to what I was accustomed to. I thought it did look good though; his gorgeous amber eyes still popped and it was definitely still unique.

"I don't hate it at all! It looks different, but in a good way!" I assured him. "Thank god you didn't dye over your purple though, I don't think I would be able to accept that kind of change," I joked.

"I just felt like I needed a change. Like, that hairstyle I had was because of Lyoko and X.A.N.A. and I feel like since we're all done with that stuff, it was time to move past the Lyoko style… besides, I'm naturally brunette and my mom was bugging me to change back."

I nodded and fought the urge to tell him about my discovery on my first day in Michigan. My inbox pinged and I minimized the video chat to look to see what the email was. It was from Jeremie. I opened the message and read it quickly.

"What are you up to?" Odd asked.

"Just looking through old messages," I told him. I hated lying but I was doing it fluently lately… I reread Jeremie's email more carefully:

Emma!

I hope your holiday is going well. How is everything over there? Aelita and I are back at Kadic and we found a new location for a super computer in an abandoned storage building. It's kind of a pain to get to, but that might be the best way to go. I got my dad to provide financial support for a new computer that I told him would help for school and would be nice for entertainment… I'm building it as I type and I am creating a new digital world that is connected to the Network. Aelita is working on new scanners; we are only going to be able to build two but we are going to build new ones later if we need to. It's a pain in the butt trying to find everything we need but we're managing…

We went to the demolished factory and found that the casing for the scanners are still intact even if they aren't standing. There were a few other salvageable pieces but for the most part, we had to purchase all new equipment. I let Yumi know what's going on and she's helping as much as she can. Ulrich and Odd still don't know and they don't need to until we know more about what's going on. Have you found anything out about Marian? Is she aware of the virus? If she is, stay away from her; don't let her know that you're onto her.

One more thing… I'd like to get some more information about her computer and how strong X.A.N.A. is within it. I sent you a program that will find and store all of the data I need. All you need to do is run it for an hour while it goes through everything… do you think that will be possible? Only go through with it if you're sure it is, I do not want you endangering yourself while you're alone out there.

Again, I hope you're doing well despite this mess. Give your family my best! Aelita's as well, she says she is going to email you soon to talk with you.

Sincerely, Jeremie.

"So what have you been doing in Michigan?" Odd asked suddenly and I looked at him and shrugged.

"I've been hanging out with my family enjoying my time here… I've gone swimming a few times and I've been to a shopping mall once but I wasn't very comfortable there so I don't think I'll go back… Oh! I got your mother's painting. Give her a great big hug for me! I miss her and I love the painting so much!"

"Hold on, you can talk to everyone yourself," he said, sounding slightly alarmed and the camera changed a bit and I saw Adele and Elisabeth's bright faces crowd the screen.

"Hey, girls!" I greeted and waved.

"Emma! How is it there? Are they all really fat over there?" Elisabeth asked curiously. "Ow! Odd, you little shit. Don't touch me!"

I chuckled as Odd pushed them both back to sit beside him. "Mom! Emma's on video chat!" Adele called and a moment later Mrs. Della Robbia popped into my view and her smile widened; she waved hello to me.

"Thank you so much for that immaculate painting!" I gushed. "My father says it's wonderful too; we all love it!"

"You're more than welcome, sweetheart!" she said happily. "Make sure you keep the box, you can repack it in there when you come back to school and it should stay safe during the flight."

"I will keep that in mind!" I told her earnestly. "Where are the other girls?" I asked curiously.

"Marie is hiding out somewhere reading but she said she'd come say hello," Odd told me.

"Louise is at work, she's swamped with the new catalogue," Adele said. "She's an executive now! I love it, I get some awesome freebies!"

I chuckled. "And Pauline?" I asked. "Usually I see you three together."

"She got an intern gig at Louise's fashion company so she's helping Louise with the catalogue," Odd's mother said happily. "I'm so proud of my girls, pursuing their dream jobs! Anyway, Emma, I must say goodbye. I'm working on a new painting and you understand how on and off inspiration can be!"

I waved as she dashed away from view. "Well actually it's dinner time for me," I said to Odd and his sisters.

"What are you eating?" Odd asked me.

"Haluski," I said with a grin. "Ever have that?"

They all shook their heads. "Sounds polish," Elisabeth speculated.

"It's most popular in Poland but it's popular in Slovakia and Russia too; it's cabbage, drop noodles, and whatever else you want to fry, all together. It's delicious!"

"We'll take your word for it," Adele said to me. "See you later, Emma!" she said and waved. Elisabeth blew a kiss before the two of then ran off.

"I guess I will talk to you later," Odd said to me. "I'll see when Louise and Pauline will be able to sit in for a video chat so you can see then too. Same with Marie. I'll talk to you later, my love."

I waved goodbye and blew a kiss at the camera before we both ended the call. I sighed and looked at Jeremie's email that was still open in a window. I saw the program in an attached file and opened it up to load it onto a blank disk that my father had lying around.

"Let the fun commense!" I said to myself when it was done loading.


	8. Getting Data

When I was done I went out to the kitchen to find dinner was already done and everyone had already gotten their portions. I scooped up the last of the haluski into a bowl and grabbed a couple chunks of sausage that were sitting in another pan and set them on top of it. I sat down beside Amy on the floor. The adults were already sitting at the table and Amy and Diana were watching a movie on TV. I looked around to see if Marian was there.

"Hey, dad," I started. "Where is Marian?"

"She's out of town until later tonight," he answered. "She's visiting a friend who lives in the Capitol. Why?"

"I was just curious," I replied and started in on my food. I ate kind of quickly; a habit from eating with Odd.

The twins were so engulfed in the movie they barely spoke to me or to each other. I took that as a blessing and finished my food and took my dish to the sink and washed it. I soaked the pans and dried my hands off. "Dad, I'm going to go for a walk, alright? It's so nice out."

"Alright, be careful, Emma!" he responded. "Take the pocketknife in the drawer, I've been meaning to give it to you." I dug in the drawer he indicated and I found the knife he meant; a red swiss army knife. There had to be at least 20 tools on it. It has a large blade, a small blade, a corkscrew, a can opener, a bottle opener, five different sized screw drivers, scissors, tweezers, a toothpick, a hook, a metal file, a metal scraper, and four other tools I couldn't even identify. "I know it's a hunting tool, but I know you can use it for protection," he told me while I was looking at it.

"Dad, I'm pretty great at self-defense, Odd and the others taught me a lot," I protested half-heartedly. I realized at that moment that I'd already put the pocket knife in my back pocket.

"Take it anyway. Don't be out too long," he told me. I nodded and went back into my room to pull my new dark blue hoodie on and grabbed the disk, sliding it into the front hoodie pocket. I left the apartment, feeling guilty already.

When I got outside I looked around outside. Nobody was out and about, good. I looked at Marian's parking spot and saw it was empty; also a good sign. I walked over to her building and chose to buzz apartment four. I knew for a fact that this person wasn't acquainted with Marian or my family.

"Yeah?" the raspy voice croaked. "Who'z'it?"

"Sorry to bother you, sir," I said into the speaker. "I live in apartment 1 and I forgot my key in my apartment. Can you please open the door for me?"

He grumbled something inaudibly and I thought that he was going to refuse, but then the buzzing noise came and I opened the door. I did a silent internal happy dance. "Thank you sir!" I said, before going inside. "Have a nice evening."

When I went inside there was nobody in the hallway, nobody coming down the steps. I found Marian's door and found it was locked.

"Why am I surprised?" I asked myself and knelt down in front of the doorknob. I pulled my swiss army knife out and found the proper tool and started on unlocking it. I tried to avoid doing any damage to the lock.

After a few second I heard it click and stood back up, opening the door, pocketing the knife.

"You have your keys separate?" I heard from above and saw the old man was peeking out from the stairs. I thought fast and held up the key to my dad's apartment.

"Yes.. I really should put them on the same keychain!" I said and laughed sheepishly. "Thanks again for letting me in."

"No problem, sweetheart. What are neighbors for? I just wanted to make sure you weren't lying. Have a good one."

I nodded and watched him go back upstairs and sighed in relief; he hadn't seen me pick the lock, thank god. I walked into Marian's apartment and closed the shades and locked the door behind me again. I sat down at her computer and thought for a few minutes about what her password could be. I moved the mouse to wake the computer up and started trying a few things.

I thought of everything she'd told me about herself. I tried her birthday, her initials, her initials followed by her birthday, and then I tried her initials, birthdate, and high school graduation year. Bingo.

I went to work running Jeremie's program and came to a sudden realization: Now I had to sit around in an apartment that I was breaking and entering in. And I knew my father would probably start getting worried in about half an hour.

I decided to email Jeremie to let him know I was running the program now, I explained that I was breaking and Entering, and that I would need instructions for when I sent the data to him when it was done. I told him I would do that from my father's laptop.

He responded almost immediately. He reminded me to be very careful. If X.A.N.A. was strong enough, he could easily try to attack me while I was hanging around. I told him I would be on guard.

So I was, I literally stared at the computer for an hour. Watching the program bar slowly creep longer and longer until it finally reached 100% done. I ejected the disk and erased my activity and logged out of the computer. Just as I finished I heard the the sound of the doorknob being jiggled.


	9. Back to the Apartment

"Shit!" I hissed between my teeth. I looked around quickly and found there was an empty cupboard underneath the sink in the kitchen. I quickly maneuvered my way into the small space and curled up, closing the door quietly. I felt around to make sure there was nothing Marian would need to access like a trash can or something.

"No, I didn't see her on any of the paths," I heard Marian's voice say, she sounded concerned. "Did she say where she was walking to?" She waited a minute for the response. "Well just hang tight, I'm sure she's just exploring. I'll go out when I put my things away and look for her with you. She can't be very far off, meet me out in front of our buildings."

So my dad was looking for me… Shit. What if I tried to make my escape from the building and one of them spots me leaving it? I could just see how angry they would be with me… I held my breath as I heard her come into the kitch. I heard the fridge door open and I heard her grab something, it crackled like a cheap water bottle, and then the door slammed closed. I waited a few minutes more and then heard the apartment doors close.

I was terrified to get out now, but I did. I crawled out of the cupboard and went to the window and peeked out of the blinds. Marian, my father, and my uncle were all out talking in the middle of the path that connected the two buildiings. I crept out of the apartment and went to the back door. I ran to the end of the path that led out of the apartment complex and started walking casually toward apartment building six where they were all standing. I tried to act cool but inside, my heart was beating a mile a minute.

"There she is! Emma! Where did you go? We've been looking for you!" My uncle exclaimed when he spotted me.

My dad looked over at me, relief in his eyes. "Next time, you're telling me where you're going before you leave so I don't have a heart attack," he said to me sternly.

"I'm sorry. I just walked to the convenience store to buy a soda and then I walked to the park. I'm sorry I was gone so long, but it was such a nice night out!" I said, abashed. "Marian, how was the Capitol? I heard you were visiting a friend?"

She smiled, "it was lovely, my friend and I went to dinner to catch up and we went shopping afterward. You sure had your family worried, sweetie."

"I'm sorry!" I said again. "Next time I'll let you guys know where I'm going. I wanted to take some photographs but then I remembered that I forgot the camera so I came back… good thing I did, I guess. I'll just go another time while I'm here."

"Next time, go with your cousins, they would probably like to go with you and I think it would be safer," Marian suggested and I nodded.

"Good idea," I replied. I wonder when I'll ever get to stop lying to people. I thought bitterly.

"Anyway, come back home, we're going to watch a movie, all of us," my uncle told me and started walking toward the building. Marian, my father, and I followed him and I went right into my room to set the disk between the pages of one of my books and I changed into some pajamas and spent the rest of the night replaying the events of the night while watching a movie with my family.


	10. Homeward Bound

In the morning before my cousins woke up I grabbed the laptop and the disk and opened up my email. Jeremie had sent me directions for safely sending him the data. I inserted the disk into the laptop and transferred the file to a locked file and then sent it to Jeremie, then I told him the passcode to the file and sent the email. He told me to destroy the disk when I was done with it to be on the safe side.

I decided I would do that after breakfast. I set the disk down on the desk and got up off the floor and walked out to the kitchen to find something to eat for breakfast. I settled on eating a couple bananas and some black tea. I turned the TV on and found a kid's show. I knew some English so I figured maybe watching this would help me learn more? Besides, it looked like a cute show.

"Emma, can I talk to you?" said my dad, coming out of his room to the living room. "You're going back to school in a few days I want to talk to you now so you can think about something before you leave."

I scowled, why did I have a bad feeling about this? I patted the seat next to me on the couch. "What's up, dad?"

He looked a little uncomfortable and the anxiety I inherited from him was showing in his eyes. "Emma, you know after your mom died I promised myself I would never let you leave me…" he started and I felt a darkness fall and I looked down and watched my tea swish around in my mug. "And you were always so studious, I knew in my head that one day I would need to let you go to that school so you would have the chance to live a better life…" he continued.

"I'm going to Kadic so I can help us all live better lives, I'm doing it for the family just as much as I am doing it for me," I interjected and he put a hand up to silence me. I looked back down at my tea.

"And I let you go. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I knew that it was right, but in my heart I felt like I lost the most important girl in my life, my daughter… Anyway, now that I live here in America and our family is slowly immigrating here, we can all work together equally to create better lives for ourselves. I'm trying to ask you if you've stay here and go to school with your cousins here in America."

I nearly dropped my cup when he said the words, when he suggested that I leave my only real friends and my boyfriend… It didn't sound so bad, actually… being with my family, being in what's called the land of opportunity… But then I remembered that I had a job to do, I had to help the others to save the world. Again. I couldn't leave them, I couldn't just walk away from the school I worked so hard to get to.

I looked up at my dad and set my tea down on the cocktail table and gave him a hug, I loved him with all of my heart and I knew how much courage he had to have mustered to ask this of me. I hated to say no to him but…

"Dad, I worked my whole life to make it to Kadic… and I only have one more year there… I don't know if I'll fall in love with the school Yumi is starting at, or if I'll want to come live here, but I know that right now I need to stay there and finish what I started."

"I knew you would say that… You can't blame me for trying," he said with a resolute grin. "I just wanted to sit down with you and let you know that if things ever get rough at that school or you want to come to school here, you can do that. And this year I'm going to send you an allowance every month for spending so when you go out with your friends, you can pay your way."

"I know that, thank you. I'll write to you every week to let you know how things are going with me."

"No, actually I wanted to say one more thing…" he stated. "You saw that big computer that Marian built?" he asked and I nodded, my interest peaked. "She built that laptop as well and she sold it to me for almost nothing for school. I want you to take that with you so we can video message each other. I am sharing a new laptop with my brother instead. We all agree you should take it so we can keep in touch easier and it will probably help you with school as well."

I was dumbfounded, there was just one surprise after another this week. First discovering X.A.N.A. is awake again, seeing my cousins and more of my family are starting to come live in America, my father's request, and now he's giving me a laptop.

"This has been a crazy week," I said with a disbelieving sigh. "Dad, the laptop would actually help in school… but only if you're sure you want me to take it."

"I am. Now, what did you have planned today?" he asked me.

I took a long swig of tea. "I didn't have anything in particular in mind," I said to him when the cup's rim left my lips.

"I'd like to take you with me to the college. I need to drop some papers off and meet with a counselor. You can see where I'll be going to school like I saw yours."

So that is what we did that day, I went with him to the college campus, which was about the size of Kadic if you included the park. Most of the buildings were connected and encircled a a quad. There was a large library, cafeteria and bookstore, a studio art building, auditorium, and employment building, and a few sports fields with a forest reserved for study by the science classes. My father had to go to the counseling building, which was in the buildings surrounding the quad, and he told me to wait for him in the studio arts building, his last stop was the employment building, which was connected.

I roamed the hallways and admired all of the studio artwork on the walls and found myself admiring an old and large camera that was behind a display case. I could read the gold plate and it reead that it was a the first model of SLR camera that was invented long ago. Next to it was a current model and I was amazed at the differences.

"You know that despite the technology that is out today, I would still rather shoot with one of these bad boys than I digital one." The voice behind me made me jump and I turned to see a boy who looked to be a little older than me was standing behind me. "Sorry I scared you."

I tried to stay calm as I focused on what he said to me. Of course he was speaking English and he didn't look like he would possibly know any Russian or Slovak. I understood what hee said from English class at Kadic and I thought about the proper response before I said it. "No, it is fine. I wasn't expecting to see anyone."

"Nice accent," he complimented and I smiled. "Russian?"

"That's right," I said with a smile. "A mix of Russian and Slovak, though they are very similar."

"What kind of camera do you use?" he asked.

"A small one, nothing like these," I told him and turned back to the cameras. "I use bigger ones in film, but when I take photos I use a small one." I was glad we were talking about cameras… I'd actually researched a conversation about cameras and art for Enlish class that I had to act out with Aelita. I knew this.

My father found me then, "Are you ready? I need to stop in one more place and then we'll go out to dinner," he said to me as he approached and noticed the boy I was talking to. "Hello," he said in English.

"Hello, sir. Well, bye, now," the boy said and waved goodbye to me and walked away. I was glad to have had a chance to meet someone new, even if I didn't even learn his name or anything about him at all…

My dad and I finished the last small errand and then found a fast food restaurant and ordered sandwiched. The rest of the day was casual after that. I walked to the park with Diana and Amy and took pictures with them on the playground and on the trail. I taught them some basic martial arts and self defense because they were interested to, and then went back home and had a very relaxed remainder of break.

I finally had my chance to talk with Louise, Pauline, and Marie for a while on web chat, my dad and my cousins got to see Odd, and Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi kept me updated on their building a super computer and scanners. Jeremie had the computer up and running but was having trouble connecting the scanners that they built, and of course they were all wary of testing them out on Aelita and Yumi because of all of the unknown factors.

By the end of break, I was kind of surprised that it was already time to leave. Even if it had been two weeks, it felt like only days… and I couldn't fathom how Jeremie could possibly have built a working super computer and loaded it up with programs in such a short time… I knew that I would probably have to lock him in a room for a few days to force him to sleep because I knew that he probably hadn't done any of that while building everything.

I dreaded going back. I dreaded telling Ulrich and Odd because I knew they would be mad at Aelita, Jeremie, Yumi, and I for not telling them right away. I dreaded going back to school and fighting a malignant virus that got some twisted kicks out of the most disturbing of attacks. I really hoped that we would be able to defeat X.A.N.A. quickly and expel the program for good.

I spent my last night in Michigan packing and talking with Odd on the webcam. "What time is it there?" I asked him, trying to count in my head.

"It is two in the morning," he specified with a devious grin. "Don't you dare try to make me go to sleep. I'm on my blog and talking to you so I'm far too busy to waste my time on sleep."

I rolled my eyes and found the disk I was supposed to destroy and picked it up. "Oh," I said, remembering all about it. "Oops." I put it sturdily in both hands and bent it at the middle, snapping it into pieces. I stacked the pieces and pocketed them.

"What was that?" Odd asked and I came to a blank.

"Um, it was a broken disk, it was one of my cousin's music CDs that she always forgets to get rid of so I just did it for her so she won't accidentally try listening to it again."

"Ahh," Odd said and nodded. "Anyway, what time will you be getting in? from New York?"

'I leave here at 9, fly to New York at 10:30, fly to France at 2:35. You can try figuring out the time change and how that all works. It always just confuses me," I told him.

"Alright," he said. "Well I am going to let you finish packing. I guess I probably should sleep so I can be awake for your arrival."

"Goodnight, love," I said and blew a kiss at the webcam. He returned the gesture and waved before signing off. I sighed as I looked around at all of the extra things I had. The painting, laptop, and some of the other new things I'd gotten from family wouldn't fit in my bag…

"Does anyone have an extra backpack or suitcase they don't need? I don't have enough space in my luggage," I said as I walked out into the living room. My aunts were watching the news and my father and uncle weren't even home. Diana and Amy were playing a card game.

"I've got something," my aunt Gladys said and stood from the couch. "It's a suitcase, I'll give you some money as well because the airport is going to charge you for carrying so much."

"Thanks, so much," I said as she led me into my dad's rroom where all of the adults were sleeping. "I sure hope you'll be able to get your own apartment soon," I told her, looking at how cramped the room looked.

"I will soon, I am enrolling in that college that your father is going to and I'm going to go to the nursing school and save up. Plus the girls will be able to get jobs soon as well. And with the government programs they have here… we'll be just fine!" she said with a smile. She handed me the small suitcase. "I hope this suitcase will help."

"It will!" I told her as I left the room to go back to mine. I rearranged my packing and now eeverything was packed away neatly between the two suit cases and my carry on. I remembered to pack the swiss army knife into my suitcase, along with the laptop. I packed all of that into layers of clothes to pad it all just in case the flight was rough. I didn't want to risk anything breaking.

The next morning my cousins woke me up early and we went out to breakfast, just the three of us. They helped me pack my stuff into the car and watched as my father and I drove together to the airport. He gave me some spending money after we dropped my luggage off and watched me go through security. I underwent the long and boring flights back to France and had no trouble getting through the airports this time. I was so glad to hear familiar conversation. French and Italian were the dominating languages in the final airport and it made me feel so much safer, I was home, finally.


	11. Discovered Deception

I walked to the baggage claim and watched the conveyer belt move in a loop, entering and exiting the concealed area where the suitcases were set on the belt. I found my stuff and grabbed the two suitcases and turned to go find my taxi, walking right into Odd's arms.

"Odd!" I squealed and wrapped my arms around his svelte frame and kissed him furiously. "I didn't think I'd miss kissing you so much, but I guess I did," I said when I was done.

"I missed you too," he said and took both of my suitcases for me. "Geez, you got a lot of stuff while you were there," he stated.

"My father gave me his laptop," I told him with a grin. "They are all going to school and getting jobs… I'm so hapoy that they are doing well… Anyway, I bought some clothes and of course the painting is in there too…"

He nodded. "Well my break was really boring… and of course since Elisabeth, Adele, and Marie were just as bored as I was they enjoyed more than one joke at my expense… thank god Louise and Pauline are working, when Louise and Marie scheme together, that's when it gets really bad…" he told me and I laughed. "You could say that they are the evil geniuses of the Della Robbia sisters."

"You know they love you," I told him. "I guess messing with you is how they show that."

Odd led me to the taxi and the driver loaded my stuff into the trunk and took Odd and I back to Kadic, where other students were starting to return from their homes, hugging and catching up with friends, dreading the new school year. We went to the office first so I could pick up my new room assignment; Aelita and I decided to room together this year. We found my room and Odd hung around while I unpacked. I took the left side of the room because that's the side of the room my bed was in my old dorm.

The last thing I did was hang the painting of Odd and I above my bed. I put the suitcases on top of my armoire. When I was done I plopped down next to Odd on my bed. He was looking at my laptop, looking into the computer property data and looking at the control panel.

"This thing has an insane amount of space in it," he noted. "You said Marian built this like she built the big desk top you used in her apartment?"

I nodded. "She mentioned that this laptop is almost as powerful as her desk top. She said it will last me a long time if I perform maintenance regularly."

"Jeremie's going to be jealous, I bet," he said. "Bet it could even put the old super computer to shame or come close to it."

I thought about it, "Let's go see Jeremie and Aelita now. Their trip to England was cut short so they've been staying with Yumi."

"Why was the trip cut short?" he asked curiously as we got up to leave.

I thought for a second, "Something came up, I think. I'm going to text Aelita to let her know we're coming."

We walked to Yumi's house in silence, we didn't have much to say to each other, which usually never happened. It was kind of nerve wracking, usually he was a chatterbox! When we reached Yumi's house we found that Ulrich was there too and he didn't look pleased. He glared at me when Odd and I walked in.

"Why wouldn't you tell Odd and I what's going on right when you found out?" he demanded before I could even ask.

"He saw the blueprints…" Yumi said to me before I could ask how he found out. Odd looked at me questioningly and I bit my lip, looking away from them.

"It was Jeremie's idea to keep it from you two until we could figure out what we're dealing with…" I said. "We wanted to see how strong X.A.N.A. was and whether the woman who owns the computer knows about it or not."

"What the hell?" Odd asked abruptly. "When did you find X.A.N.A.?"

"The first night I was in Michigan. After I emailed you I saw a flash of the symbol on one of the computer screens and I dug a little bit into her hard drive and found the virus. I sent Jeremie some of the data I could access and he confirmed it," I explained.

"And they've been building scanners and he built a new fucking super computer. All during break and they didn't tell us," Ulrich said to Odd.

"Why would you guys keep that from us?" Odd asked, sounding hurt. He moved away from me, closer to Ulrich. "And you," he said directly to me. "You lied to me. Flat out lied. I knew something was going on but I chose to ignore that because I trusted that you would tell me if anything really was going on."

"Odd, I told her to keep it quiet," Jeremie cut in, probably seeing the anxiety in my faxe. "Ulrich, Odd, don't get upset about this. We can't afford to get upset now."

"Jeremie, you have to understand. I don't know how Odd feels but I for one feel betrayed. What are we to you? Just the guys who go in and kick ass for you?" Ulrich asked. "We deserve to be included every step of the way when it comes to X.A.N.A. because we're a team. We should be equal and since you guys kept this from us, it's like you don't think of it like that."

Odd nodded, "he's right."

"Well now that we all know about this…" Aelita said calmly. "Jeremie and I are going to explain to everyone what we've come up with. I'm sorry Odd and Ulrich. We didn't keep you in the dark because we don't think of you as equals; we just wanted to be sure of what we're dealing with before we freaked out. We didn't want to scare everyone and then it turns out to be nothing."

"That's right," Jeremie chimed in. "Odd, don't be mad at Emma, she wanted to tell you two right away but I told her not to."

"Guys, we should go to the warehouse and talk. My family is going to be home soon," interjected Yumi. "They said all they had to do was pick up Hiroki's paperwork for school and then they'd come right home."

Jeremie led the way as he took the five of us to the building we'd be using for the computer and scanners.

* * *

**A/N: Things will start picking up from here... I'm sorry if this is long, I don't know how to condense stories.**

**Also, I forgot to mention this before. There will be explicit language in this fanfic, if you haven't already noticed.**

**Please don't post comments about the language. This is my story and I'll have the characters use the language I think they would use. To be honest the only reason they don't swear in the show is it's supposed to be a kids show. If I was in a fragment of the situations they get in i'd be swearing up a storm.**

**So yeah... comment/critique my work, but don't comment on the language or my rendition of the characters in general. **


	12. Theoretically

"By the way, Odd, I forgot to ask… what have you done with your hair?" Yumi asked after a few minutes of silence.

"It was the Lyoko style before. I thought it was time for a change since I thought we were all done with this bullshit," Odd responded, still sounding miffed.

"It looks good," she complimented. "And I hope you two don't plan on acting like this all day," she added, also sounding irritated.

"I hope you all don't plan on keeping any secrets from us in the future," Ulrich retorted.

I rolled my eyes. "So, Yumi, how did the renovations go in your house?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

She smiled, appreciating it. "It was pretty messy, my dad actually dropped a paint bucket and ruined the hardwood in Hiroki's bedroom so they had to fix all of that before Hiroki realized it. Other than that everything went smoothly. What about you? How is your family doing?"

She and I talked the rest of the way to the warehouse and before I knew it, we were standing in front of an industrial looking building that was fenced in with rusty wire. It didn't look like anyone came to this building at all, considering the front gate was covered in locked chains.

"Jeremie, how do you expect us to use this building? Is this legal?" I asked nervously. He, Aelita, and Yumi led Ulrich, Odd, and I around to the back where there was a hole in the fence just big enough for each of us to slip through.

"This definitely looks safe," Ulrich said sarcastically. "Jeremie, what are you thinking?"

"There is an entrance to a sewer from the basement. We just need to figure out the route we would need to take from Kadic," Jeremie told us as Yumi and Aelita crawled through the hole. "I know this isn't ideal but it's the best we can do."

I sighed and handed Jeremie my bag and got on my hands and knees and crawled beneath the wire and felt a light scraping on my shoulder. When I was done I looked down at it and saw the scratch. I looked back up at Aelita and scowled.

"We'll work at the hole and make it bigger,' she promised me and kissed her hand, placing it on my arm. "I've got dozens of scratches from doing this. We'll figure this entire thing out." Jeremie passed me my bag through the hole before he, Ulrich, and Odd came through. Aelita led us to the back door and opened it for us, closing it when everyone was inside. Surprisingly it was well lit from the windows. There were planks of wood on the floor as if Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi had pried them off the windows to allow the light in.

"You sure this is safe?" I asked, taking in the instable looking infrastructure. "This place looks like it could cave in at any moment. It isn't safe."

"It's all we have. The factory wasn't safe either," Jeremie pointed out.

"There were no stairs. I'm surprised that none of us broke or sprained anything swinging down the rope," Aelita added.

"Good point," I admitted. We walked through the building a little ways before we finally came to the room where there were two scanners built beside a large computer. "How did you get all of this stuff through that hole?" I asked, awestricken.

"We didn't. We found the sewer route between here and the factory and used that for most of the equipment and for the computer all of the parts came separately so we were able to get that stuff through the fence," Jeremie explained. "So most of this stuff is operational. The scanners work but I haven't tried it with Yumi or Aelita yet… I want to be absolutely sure before I send anyone in."

"Now, from the data Emma found in that computer, we see that X.A.N.A. is still not strong enough to make any real attacks yet. What happened is when we were destroying all of the replikas, there was one small one that fell through the cracks and X.A.N.A. managed to hide out in that one. We didn't see it because it was too small for any of our scans to pick up," Aelita explained. "And we also didn't see it because it's so far away in the network."

"So what are we going to do?" Ulrich asked curiously.

"I think the best idea would be to recreate the Skidbladnir," Jeremie responded simply. The Skid had been destroyed in one of the final missions we had. It was right before we got rid of X.A.N.A. for what we thought was for good. "I'll program in sector five and we'll build the Skid all over again and then send you guys in to go destroy that computer."

"Jeremie I don't think just destroying the computer will do much," Odd stated. "I thought about this and it seems like X.A.N.A. has a way of preserving himself on the network. I think it will take more than just destroying someone's computer."

"We're going to work this out and be more thorough than we were before," Jeremie assured him. "The big problem is that we can't monitor that computer anymore. Emma would have to go back to Michigan to keep her eye on it, and if she did that she obviously wouldn't be here to help us. Plus she'd be in danger if X.A.N.A. became strong enough to make attacks."

"I should have just destroyed it while I was there," I mumbled.

"You couldn't have done it without drawing attention to yourself," Jeremie stated. "When we go in through the network through teleportation, no fingerprints are left behind."

I thought about our situation and considered what I would be able to do for us if I went back to act as a monitor of X.A.N.A. for a while. I could even try to figure out a way for me to destroy the computer on my own without leaving a trace. "Maybe I could figure out a way…" I said slowly, deliberately. "I could monitor X.A.N.A. and find a way to slowly get rid of him."

"You're not going back," Odd stated quickly. "It would be dangerous for you to be there if he is growing stronger. It's best if we just stay together and fight the virus as a unit."

I rolled my eyes. "Way to think you can tell me what to do," I snapped and he shot me a look but dropped it.

"Why are we all on edge?" Aelita asked, sounding annoyed with us. "Odd, take a deep breath and calm down. Emma, do the same, kiss and make up. Ulrich, same with you, you're the one who got everyone all riled up. Jeremie and I are going to solve this. For now we need to test the scanners to make sure they are fully functional. Any volunteers?"

Nobody spoke up, I raised my hand, "I'll go. Are we going to have the same Lyoko forms as we did?"

"Theoretically," Jeremie answered as he sat down at the computer and started up a virtualization process. I walked over to a scanner and stepped inside, crossing my fingers. "It is a different world technically, so we'll see when you get there."

"Jeremie you better know what you're doing," I told him as the scanner doors closed and separated me from the group.


	13. XANA's creation

The familiar flash of light scanned me up and down and I felt tingly and closed my eyes to shield them from the light. I opened then again and found myself in a dark world. I looked down to see moving platforms below me and I gulped as I began to descend. I missed the platform below me by a foot and just barely managed to grab onto its edge and pull myself onto the surface. "What is this place, Jeremie?"

The sky was a dark shade of gray and the ground was a dark burgundy color. The layout resembled a mix of the mountain sector and forest sector, having mountainous structures, narrow paths, moving platforms, and tall tree like structures that went on forever into the sky. "It's like the forest and mountain sector if they had an evil baby," I articulated.

"What?" he sounded confused. "Emma you should be in the new ice sector, that's the one I programmed in. Do you see any towers?"

I scanned the vicinity and spotted a tower in the distance, "it sticks out like a sore thumb," I told him. I stood up and moved backward, taking a running leap to the next moving platform and continued that way until I reached solid ground. "Should I go in or what?"

"No. This sector is unfamiliar to me and I don't know what going into a tower in this sector will do. Just… hang tight," he said. I could hear Odd yelling in the background.

"Jeremie, I agree with Odd, whatever he's saying. I'm assuming that he's saying you screwed up big time?" I asked him.

"That's about right. Don't worry, Emma, I'm getting data on this sector right now… I don't understand how it could have sent you there. I entered the coordinates for the Ice region. Try to explore a little, I guess. Maybe this is a blessing and we just don't know it yet."

I decided to take him up on that. I walked down the path and took in my surroundings. It looked like a typical Lyoko Sector; a sun-less sky, a digital sea, and platforms suspended above the sea, which was a thick, dark blue. Usually there was some pellucidity to the sea, at least in the other sectors. Light patches of fog drifted just above each platform and I found that walking through them caused them to thicken and grow, making it harder and harder to see around the sector. "Jeremie, can you receive a visual?" I asked. "This place is way freaky; it's different than the other sectors. The sea isn't transparent as it usually is and there is this light fog that gets thicker whenever I walk into it. I'm going to climb up one of the trees so you can see this place. It's pretty eerie…"

"Thanks Emma, have you seen any signs of other life forms?" Jeremie asked as I found a tree to ascend.

"No? That would be a bad thing, right?" I asked.

"This world is X.A.N.A.'s creation," he told me quietly. I guessed that he didn't want Odd to hear because he knew Odd would bite his head off. "So yes it would."

"Jeremie, that could be really bad for me, don't you think?" I asked but tried to remain calm. I found that the trees in this sector had branches unlike the ones in the forest. I sat down on the first one and looked out over the sector, scanning for any signs of life. "How could X.A.N.A. have created it?"

"Remember I had you analyze data from that computer? Well it seems that X.A.N.A. was expecting that and loaded in his own sector into the disk you used and when you emailed it to me, that created this world and I loaded that onto my computer… and now you're in his world and I have no way of accessing the codes to bring you back home," he said, panic rising in his voice with every word.

"Jeremie, calm down… I will lie low until you figure things out. Tell everyone whats going on so everyone is in the loop… I trust you, you'll bring me back," I said soothingly. "Is there any way I can go to the ice sector you programmed from this sector? Then you could rematerialize me from there?"

"I'm trying to get the layout of this sector and see if there are any safe way-towers connected to the ice sector. The computer says that the two sectors are connected but I don't know where yet."

I nodded in response and was about to respond but a flash of movement caught my eye. I turned and looked to the edge of the branch I sat on and saw a bird-like creature that resembled a crow with metallic talons and tip feathers. It had red tinted black eyes and X.A.N.A.'s eye placed on its chest. The bird was about the size of a Blok and twice as fierce looking. I jumped up and off of the branch just as it made a move on me. I had a quick look around to see there were five identical creatures circling above me.

"Jeremie, do you see this?" I asked as I checked my hands to make sure I still had my weapon. I did, thank god.

"I do. I'd run or attack if I were you," he advised. "I've got the sector almost totally mapped out. When I'm done I'll give you the coordinates and you can go to the ice sector and then come home."

"These things look like they are going to be a pain in the ass to kill," I confided and took aim for the one that tried to attack me and fired, missing as it launched itself out of the way. "Can I call my Overmorph here?"

"Try it," he suggested. "I have the program loaded into the system, plus I fixed it up so it will load faster."

I called my vehicle to me and jumped on just as two of the birds spiraled down toward me, screaming their battle cry. I moved quickly, going airborne and doing a sharp U turn toward the birds, firing repeatedly at the beasts, barely managing to kill one of them. I still had five to deal with and it didn't look like I would be able to take them out. "These things are a crap load faster than any of the other monsters we've fought, I think," I told Jeremie just as of of them managed to land an attack on me, scratching my arm. Instead of my arm spurting electricity as it would have any other time in Lyoko, I actually felt as though I had been clawed at by a bird. "And they hurt! Jeremie, did you find it yet?"

"Yes! Here are the coordinates! Hurry up and don't get hit again because that attack just took out 60 life points!" he hollered and told me the coordinates of the way tower I needed. I kicked my Overmorph into overdrive and high tailed it toward the proper tower and powered through it and downward, coming up on the other side in the ice sector. The downside? The birds followed me. They were able to pass through towers, which wasn't possible in the old Lyoko.

"Jeremie! Hurry up and bring me back!" I screamed as I dodged attacks from the birds left and right. One bird's attack did destroy my Overmorph. I flew off of it, rolling onto the ice sector's light white-blue surface. I rolled onto my back and watched as five furious black birds came barreling down at me, ready to make their kill.

Luckily for me, Jeremie was faster than they were.

But just barely. One of the birds did manage to peck at my chest once just as Jeremie rematerialized me. I came out of the scanner dazed and woozy as I always did, but instead of coming out unscathed; I had scratch marks on my arm and felt a wound in my chest. I peeked and saw all of the wounds were bloody.

* * *

**A/N: Another thing I didn't mention before... I am loosely following Evolution. I follow some things and ignore others. I don't want to mention everything now because I don't want to spoil anything.**


	14. Messed Up but Always Okay

"Jeremie, this is messed up," I told him and sat down before the inevitable collapsing that was common with my rematerializations. I felt a little more woozy than usual and my body was sore but that was probably just because I'd never come out of Lyoko with actual injuries before. Yumi came over to me and took a look at my arm.

"Jeremie how did the monsters hurt her human form?" Aelita asked with deep concern in her voice. "That's never happened before.

"I'm running scans on the new sector, the monster, and Emma's Lyoko form to see… I'm sorry, Emma, I shouldn't have let you go in there," Jeremie said, sounding more remorseful than I'd ever heard.

I shook my head, "I'm glad I went… now we know X.A.N.A.'s really up to something… he wouldn't create a new monster if he wasn't up to something big and we really need to get our butts in gear if we want to defeat him. Don't worry about me, it's just a few scratches and…" I looked down at my chest, wondering what to call that wound. Gash, stab-wound, and the like seemed to be a little dramatic.

"Let's go to the next room. Aelita and I bought a bunch of supplies and lucky for you, we got a lot of first aid supplies. The boys can work things out with this new sector while we take care of you," Yumi suggested. "Are you okay to walk?"

I nodded. "I can walk fine." I caught Odd looking at me and smiled at him. "I am fine, no harm done," I said for his sake.

Yumi and Aelita walked on either side of me and led me to toe next room where I took in all of the supplies Yumi said they had gotten. I saw some non-perishable, no cooking required food, like granola bars, water bottles accompanied by water flavoring tea packets. I also saw a few first aid kits surrounded by extra rolls of gauze, bottles of alcohol, and cotton balls. There were some other things like blankets and pillows but the room was bare for the most part. I also noted that it looked cleaner than the rest of the building that I'd seen so far.

"We cleaned this room up so it can act as our make-shift infirmary. Also it just seemed like a good idea to have some food and water here just in case," Aelita explained as Yumi gathered up a first aid kit and had me sit down beside her. She cleaned up and bandaged my arm and I lifted up my shirt so she could clearly see the wound on my chest.

"It's not deep but I still want to clean it and bandage it," Yumi told me cautiously. "Are you okay with that?"

I nodded. "I'd rather it be clean, too," I told her and she proceeded to clean it and bandage it. It was kind of awkward for obvious reasons but it felt so much better afterward. When I was done Yumi found a fresh shirt amongst the random things in the room and handed it to be and I changed out of the bloody shirt and into the clean one before we returned to the room. Ulrich was helping Jeremie at the computer, or trying to, while Odd was still sitting where he'd been before, playing with his phone.

"Hey," I said to him and sat down beside him. "No blood," I showed him and he nodded, still seeming distant. "Are you okay? I'm sorry about everything, not telling you about my suspicions, snapping at you earlier…"

"It's fine now," he assured me with a smile. "I'm sorry for acting like a brat. I just hated the thought of being excluded. I thought I'd never have to feel that way with you guys…"

"You don't," Yumi interjected. "You're part of this group, Odd. You're our friend and that means we'd never exclude you. The only reason we didn't tell you right away is we didn't want to freak you out."

"Right, we told you that earlier," I told him. "I love you… so much. I'd never want to provoke unwarranted anxiety in you," I said to him and placed my hands on his crossed knees and leaned in and kissed him. "I promise we'll always be 100% truthful from now on. Are we okay?"

He nodded and smiled. "Always okay."


	15. This isn't Jetlag

Everyone except for Yumi went back to Kadic to go to the 10th grade orientation and I helped Aelita unpack her things and finished with my own unpacking. Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie went to their rooms to do the same. We all met at the bench when we were done. I was still feeling a little wonky from my trip to the new Lyoko, even though a few hours had passed since I'd come home from the trip.

"I miss Kiwi," Odd said sadly upon approaching the bench. Aelita and I had finished in our room before they were done in theirs.

"Your mom and sisters say they need him for some projects?" I asked and he nodded. "You know he's safe," I assured him.

"I know but still, I miss my little diggity dog…"

"He'll be fine… personally I'm glad we won't need to constantly worry about hiding him," Ulrich stated. "I guess I'll miss having him around too, though," he admitted when he saw Odd's expression.

"So, Ulrich, when did you get back from your trip?" I asked, trying to take Odd's mind off of Kiwi. I suddenly remembering that He'd come home earlier than he said he would be. "You returned early."

"I got home a few hours before you guys came to Yumi's," Ulrich told me. "I dropped my stuff off in my room and went straight to Yumi's. I wanted to surprise her, but I got there and saw her with Jeremie and Aelita, discussing the new computer and scanners."

"So you essentially got home right when I did," I guessed. I shook my head, feeling a headache come on.

"You okay?" Jeremie asked me, concerned. He'd seen the distress in my face.

"Fine, I just have a headache. I think I just need to take a nap or something. I'm just jetlagged," I replied.

"Probably, did you sleep at all on the plane?" Aelita asked me.

I shook my head as Odd replied: "No, she didn't sleep."

"So eight hours of flying plus no sleep afterward… throw in the mishap in Lyoko… I'm surprised you haven't already crashed," Jeremie said, bemused.

"I think I'm going to go take a nap. I'll see you guys… when I wake up," I said and stood up from the bench, feeling a slight head rush. I spread my arms out to my sides to balance myself but still felt myself start to collapse. Ulrich and Odd both caught me and sat me back down. I blinked up at them and felt a vile acidic feeling slither up my throat and pushed Ulrich out of my line of fire and vomited on the ground in front of me where he had stood before.

"This isn't jetlag," Odd stated anxiously. "Emma?"

"It was Lyoko, I know it," I croaked, coughing up straggling pieces of stomach acid. By this point a small crowd of concerned students and Jim formed around me.

"Miss. Kozlov! School hasn't even started yet and you're already sick?" Jim asked loudly. He pushed passed the few students and Odd, sidestepping the puke. "Can you walk?"

I shook my head, afraid that if I spoke I'd throw up some more. My vision was blurry and I'm pretty sure if I tried to walk now I'd just collapse again. Jim picked me up, wrapping my arm around his neck and carried me to what I assumed was the infirmary. I heard Ulrich and Aelita saying something to Jeremie before I felt Odd take my free hand in his.

Yolanda's office wasn't even unpacked. She was, of course, prepared for this sort of thing anyway. "What's happened?" she asked upon my arrival.

"She threw up outside. I don't know what for," Jim answered. He looked down at Odd and Ulrich, who had followed us, expectantly and set me down on a bed, where I curled up on my side, just in case I threw up again.

"She's reacting badly to jetlag," Odd lied easily. "She's never flown long distances before and she flew eight hours from America back to France and didn't sleep when she got here so her body is exhausted, I think."

Yolanda felt my forehead, cheek and my pulse. "Her fever is low but her heart rate is racing faster than her normal rate. I'm going to clean her up and do some vitals now. You two can wait outside while I fix her up. Jim, thank you for bringing her."

Jim, Ulrich, and Odd went out to the hallway and I heard Jim bid them farewell. Yolanda pressed a cold cloth to my face and wiped my mouth and nose clean and helped me to change into a clean gown. She took my temperature and blood pressure and checked my eyes and strength before she let me lie back down. I immediately rolled onto my side and closed my eyes, ready to sleep.

"Odd, Ulrich, come back in if you want," Yolanda said into the hallway and Odd nearly ran in, followed by Ulrich who seemed equally concerned, but repressed his urge to run. Odd sat at the edge of my bed and stroked my back and I groaned and rolled over to face him. I offered a weak smile. I felt my eyelids growing heavier and heavier though.

"I think you're right about the exhaustion, Odd," Yolanda started. "Her heart rate was rapid when she first came in here but that might have been because of the excitement. Her heart rate is slowing down to normal and her fever is normal. Her regurgitation was just stress. I think if she just gets some sleep she'll be fine. I'm going to let her sleep and when she wakes up I'll check her vitals again and give her some food and see how she is then."

"We'll leave then so she can sleep," Ulrich assured her.

Odd leaned down to give me a kiss on the cheek. "We're going to the warehouse to figure out what happened," he whispered and I nodded.

"Don't worry about me," I whispered back. "I'm not as helpless as I seem."


	16. Trial and Error

Jeremie and Aelita were in the warehouse now, checking the scanner and virtualization programming to try to figure out what happened to Emma. Everything looked foreign as it was, considering the unusual sector Emma visited, the new monster, and the new equipment. "her illness could have been caused by any number of things," Jeremie said, frustrated.

"We won't know until we do some trial and error," replied Aelita.

"What do you suggest? Send you, Ulrich, and Odd in to see which thing it could have been?" Jeremie asked sarcastically. Of course he didn't want to put his friends in danger like that.

"Yes," Aelita stated. "I know Ulrich and Odd will be glad to do this. I suggest that I test the equipment, Ulrich and Odd can confront the new sector and the new monster."

"Call Yumi back here then… Ulrich and Odd should be here soon to tell us about Emma's condition," Jeremie said, seeing that there wasn't a better way to go about this. Aelita called Yumi up and Jeremie stared at Emma's digital coding, willing the answer to jump out at him.

"Ulrich already told her everything and she's already on her way," Aelita said a moment later.

"Alright. Let's wait until the others get here before we start testing things out," Jeremie suggested and Aelita nodded.

"Testing what out?" Ulrich asked as he walked into the room. "Odd's on his way. He stayed with Emma a few minutes after I left. She's sleeping, we told Yolanda that it was just the jetlag and she's placing the blame on exhaustion."

"We're going to do some trial and error to see what caused Emma's reaction. We need to test the scanner, the new sector, and the new monster," Jeremie told his friend.

"I'll test the monster," Ulrich volunteered.

Jeremie nodded. "And Odd is going to go to X.A.N.A.'s new sector."

"What for?" Odd asked as he walked into the room.

Jeremie sighed, "We're doing some trial and error to see what happened. We're going to wait until Yumi gets here."

"I'm here! How's Emma doing, Odd?" Yumi asked as she walked in. Jeremie rolled his eyes, had all of his friends just timed their arrivals or what? Everyone had arrived within half a minute of each other.

"She's sleeping. Yolanda thinks it's just the jetlag and stress," Odd replied. "So who goes first?" he asked Jeremie.

"You or Ulrich. Aelita is going to test the scanner last. You're testing the new sector, and Ulrich is testing the new monster."

Odd stepped into a scanner and crossed his arms, waiting for Jeremie to start the process. Jeremie could tell he was in a bad mood so he just started things off and sent Odd on his way to X.A.N.A.'s sector.

When Odd landed in the sector Jeremie scanned his avatar and his surroundings. "Odd, just hang out and try to stay hidden from any monsters. Don't come in contact with any of them," Jeremie instructed.

"Aye-aye captain Einstein," Odd replied with a hint of irritation.

"He wouldn't be this pissy if it was any of us instead of Emma," Ulrich noted, rolling his eyes.

"No kidding," Jeremie replied, covering the microphone.

"I don't think that's true. He'd be upset if it happened to any of us," Yumi differed.

"He's just especially concerned about Emma because he's in love with her. He loves all of us too but in a different way," Aelita assured the boys.

Jeremie shrugged, "whatever. He doesn't need to be so short with me though. I didn't intend to hurt Emma." He uncovered the microphone. "Okay, Odd, I'm bringing you back in. I have the code I need to rematerialize people from that sector."

Jeremie began the process to bring Odd back and the scanner opened a minute later and Odd came out as he usually did from Lyoko, slightly disoriented and woozy.

"You feel any different than how you felt after one of our old trips?" Ulrich asked his friend.

"I feel like shit. Next up?" Odd asked and sat down on the ground next to Yumi, holding his head in his hands. Yumi rubbed his back and he offered an appreciative smile.

"I don't think we'll need to test the scanner and the monster separately," Ulrich said to Jeremie. "To be honest I don't think the monster made much of a difference. Sure it scratched her up but that wouldn't have made her puke. Let's just test the scanner."

"We'll just send you to the ice sector and then bring you back," Jeremie stated. Ulrich got into the scanner and Jeremie started the virtualization process and sent Ulrich to the ice region. After a minute of Ulrich standing around in Lyoko, Jeremie brought his friend back.

When Ulrich came back he felt the same way that Odd did. "I think it's just the scanner," Ulrich stated. "Now all you need to do is figure this out, Einstein."

"It's possible that because it's technically a new scanner, slightly different programs, and it's a new digital world that their bodies are just reacting to the sudden change," Aelita offered as an explaination for the sickness.

Jeremie nodded. "If that's true I hope your bodies get used to the change soon, before X.A.N.A. gets stronger."

"Yumi and I should be scanned too so our bodies can be exposed to the different environment too," Aelita suggested and Yumi nodded in agreement.

"Well… it could be that you girls would react more violently so I don't know," Jeremie said uncertainly.

"Jeremie, I think Emma reacted so violently because of the stress on her body from jetlag and because she was hurt by that monster," Yumi argued. "Aelita and I will go in together, and we'll go to the ice sector and just stay for a minute. We need to be able to adjust to this change or else X.A.N.A. will have an advantage."

So Jeremie unenthusiastically virtualized Aelita and Yumi into the ice sector and promptly brought them back. He took a good look at all of his friends, sitting around lethargically against the wall, an shook his head. "This is such a mess," He stated sadly.

"Jeremie" Aelita started. "You need to be scanned into this computer so it has your information too, and to strengthen your resistance to X.A.N.A. just in case he tries to possess you like he's done before."

Jeremie wanted to refuse right away but knew she had a good point. He nodded and stood up from his seat and helped Aelita up, she was still uneasy after her return but she made it to the computer. "Does someone want to accompany him?" she asked the three other warriors. Odd stood up.

"I'm fine to go back," Odd said and he and Jeremie went to the scanners and Aelita sent the two of them into the ice sector. "Guys, just hang out for a while. Jeremie should figure out what his abilities are in Lyoko just in case we need to send him in later on," she said to them and sat back, watching the screen carefully for any threats.

Jeremie looked around the sector and then looked down at himself. "I'm never going to get used to this," he told Odd.

"You would if you came here more often," Odd replied. "Want to explore a bit? I'll help you figure out what you can do."

So they did that. Aelita did a scan on Jeremie's character and found that he could call a digital bow and arrow as his weapon along with a quiver of 20 arrows at a time. So he and Odd had some target practice.

"You're doing really well," Odd praised. "No offense but I was expecting you to trip up by now."

"The goggles are really helpful with aim," Jeremie explained. "And thanks for the faith," he said sarcastically. "I think we're done here. Aelita? Bring us back now, please."

"Jeremie, we don't need her," Odd said and held out his arm. Jeremie caught on and took aim for Odd also. "One, two, three, shoot!" Odd exclaimed and the boys took each other out and found themselves back in the warehouse.

"Odd, something tells me you wanted to shoot him anyway," Aelita said when they returned.

"You bet I did," Odd said with a grin.


	17. Geeks

I don't know how long I slept but when I woke up the sun was rising. I sat up and yawned, stretching out my arms and wiggling my toes and fingers. Yolanda peeked out of her office and smiled. "You're finally up! How do you feel?" she asked.

"Like I slept for days," I admitted. "It feels great."

She laughed and came out of her office with some juice, a banana, and a chocolate granola bar. "You didn't sleep for days but you did sleep well! You went to sleep at around three yesterday and slept through the night. It's 6 in the morning now. I want you to eat, let me take your vitals one last time, and then I'll let you go if everything checks out."

I did as she asked and she let me leave with no trouble. I checked my phone upon leaving and saw it was 7, which was half an hour before my first class was due to start. I headed to my room and changed into clean clothes, deodorizing, and brushing my hair and teeth. I walked to my first class, which was Italian. As luck would have it, I walked in five minutes late.

"Miss. Kozlov. You're now in grade 10. I would expect that you know how to set your alarm clock by now," the teacher scolded as I walked in.

"I'm sorry, sir," I apologized. "If you speak with the nurse she'll fill you in on why I'm late." He nodded in understanding and his face softened as he handed me a packet. I flipped through everything as I walked to my seat. Odd was already finishing the packet with no trouble. He glanced at me and smiled.

"How are you?" he asked curiously under his breath.

"I feel fine, did Jeremie figure out what happened?" I asked as I started filling out the first work sheet. I could see that there were a few other students who were already figuring out the worksheet with no trouble.

"It's the fact that our bodies aren't used to the new equipment," Odd stated. "We all went through the scanner to adjust to the change, even Jeremie. We all felt shitty afterward but no one reacted the way you did. We're pretty sure it was a combo of the jetlag and exhaustion, plus the stress of the new equipment and the monster's attacks transcending from Lyoko to real world."

I nodded, "Well dang… looks like we'll have to work on that so we don't react so badly to the trips."

"Jeremie even went to Lyoko to build his resistance to X.A.N.A. and found out he's not as hopeless as we all thought in Lyoko," Ulrich said from in front of Odd and I.

"If you don't shut up we're going to get in trouble," Jeremie hissed. "And you guys thought I was hopeless? Rude."

I smirked, ignoring Jeremie's comments, I said, "Really? Too bad I missed it."

"Why are we talking back here?" asked the teacher in italian. "and in French! You know that in tenth grade Italian we only converse with each other in Italian?"

"Sorry sir," Odd and I said in unison in Italian.

"it won't happen again," I assured.

He came to Odd's desk and took a look at his packet. He glanced over at me, filling out mine with no trouble and scowled. "It's more traditional to wait and fill out my hand outs when I go over the notes… Odd, you do this every year!"

Odd shrugged, "Sorry," he said. I could tell he was enjoying this though. "Can't help myself."

The teacher scoffed and dropped Odd's work on his desk and walked back up to the front of the room.

"You're definitely going to be on his shit list again this year," Ulrich chuckled.

"I can't help it, really! This is one of the only classes I can have fun in and I'm taking it!" Odd declared quietly.

"Guys, shut up," Jeremie hissed.

Class ended and the first day back to school slithered by. After classes Jeremie came to mine and Aelita's room to see my laptop.

"I want to see how powerful this thing is," he told me, opening it up. "Also, I'd like to install some of the new scanners, if you don't mind. This will keep us a step ahead of X.A.N.A., and it won't tamper with anything you already have on here."

"Do whatever you like," I permitted and snuggled up next to Odd to read a graphic novel with him. Aelita was on her desk top, working on some music on a new program that Jeremie bought for her. She was completely oblivious to us with her headphones on. Jeremie had himself surrounded by CDs and papers, my laptop resting on his knees.

"Emma… how did you send me those files?" Jeremie asked me after a minute, sounding uneasy.

"Exactly the way you asked me to, why?" I asked.

"They are saved into the laptop. X.A.N.A. is present," Jeremie explained and Odd scowled, closing the novel. We both sat up next to each other and gave Jeremie our full attention.

"I wonder, could he have planned this somehow? Now X.A.N.A. is close enough to us to where once it is strong enough, it can attack us pretty easily," I stated. "Either from the warehouse or my laptop, apparently."

"What are we going to do?" Odd asked, worried. "I don't think it's a good idea for the laptop to stay in here. X.A.N.A. would love to have such easy access to the girls."

"I can try to detach X.A.N.A. and trap it somewhere…" Jeremie contemplated and glanced at Aelita, who was still blissfully editing her music. He knocked at her desk and she jumped, looking over at him and smiled.

"What's up?" she asked, taking the headphones off her head.

"Do you have any blank disks?" Jeremie asked her. She had one ready in less than a second and handed it to him. He pushed it into my laptop. Aelita went back to her music

"Guys, go back to what you were doing… I think I can handle this," Jeremie assured Odd and I. I cracked open the novel again and forced Odd back into our cuddling position, confident that Jeremie knew what he was doing.

An hour passed and Jeremie ejected the disk from the computer. "Emma, I had to rework a lot of the internal hard drive, retype a lot of OS codes, but I think I expelled X.A.N.A. for good."

"That's great, Jeremie," I said. I was barely paying attention to him, I was completely engrossed in the book. I squealed at the adorable love scene and turned the page when Odd indicated he was done with the page.

"You're such a geek," Odd teased me. "Getting all emotional over fictional love."

"I love a good romance, especially between these two!" I exclaimed. "You're a total dork over the other two so don't even call me a geek, because you're the king of geeks!"

Jeremie rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm taking this disk with me to keep it safe. I'll see all of you tomorrow," he said to us and I waved goodbye as he tapped Aelita on the shoulder and kissed her goodbye.


	18. Not My Business

A few days passed normally for the Lyoko Warriors; Yumi adjusted to her new school, Ulrich got used to training without her, and Jeremie spent most of his time keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Emma and Odd spent most of their time just hanging out; Odd got her into playing pranks so they worked on pulling lots of them without getting caught. Aelita mainly focused on her music. She was asked to DJ the school dance that would be coming up in October.

One night Aelita and Emma were spending their evening in their room, both on their computers. Aelita was working on a new mix, while Emma was blogging. It was near 2 in the morning when Aelita finally chanced a glance at the clock. "Emma, the sun is going to come up before we even get to sleep…." She stated and Emma laughed quietly.

"Man, tomorrow is going to be a drag. Guess we should shut down our computers and try for at least a few hours of sleep, hmm?"

Aelita saved her progress and set her headphones down on her desk. She stood up and fell onto her bed, mumbling into her pillow. "Maybe I should become a coffee drinker?"

"Coffee can be your best friend if you let it," Emma replied. "Goodnight."

Aelita pulled the covers over herself and fell asleep within seconds, breathing softly.

…

I heard Aelita's soft, rhythmic breathing as she drifted to sleep and figured that I'd better follow suit. I wanted to do one thing first, get rid of an annoying toolbar that I'd accidentally installed when installing a media player update. I scanned through the file list for Zoom media toolbar and found it. My eyes flickered to right above it curiously.

"But Jeremie sai he'd gotten rid of you, X.A.N.A., " I whispered, irritated. I started to get up to wake Aelita when I felt my lap heat up in a flash and felt a surge of hot electricity pulse through my laptop. I tried dropping it but before I could the electricity connected with my fingers, which were clutching the sides of the device. I felt the foreign body enter my own and I looked around with a new perspective.

Ulrich was awakened by the 16 ounce soda he'd had earlier that night and groaned, looking at the clock. It was only 2:!5. He didn't want to get out of his nice warm bed but he didn't want to pee his boxers even more. He got up slowly and pulled the door open, heading into the forever lit hallway to take care of business. When he closed his dorm room door behind him he looked over to Jeremie's room to see Emma sneaking out of it, closing the door softly behind her.

"Hey, Emma," Ulrich whisper-called. She turned around and looked at him, seeming surprised to see him.

"Hello, Ulrich," she said quietly.

"What were you doing in there?" Ulrich asked suspiciously.

"Aelita needed this from his room and I came to get it for her. I'm going back to my room, goodnight," she said to him quickly and turned to leave.

Ulrich shrugged, "not my business," he reminded himself and then remembered his main objective: pee and get back to bed before all of the warmth in his bed was gone.

At breakfast, when Ulrich approached his usual table, Aelita was talking with Jeremie. Odd was slurping down hot chocolate, and Emma was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Emma?" he asked curiously.

"I assume she'll be here soon," Aelita answered. "She was already up and gone when I woke up this morning. She's probably taking care of something for film club."

"Chardin still has her doing maintenance even though she's filming now," Odd stated. "So that's possible."

"I'm surprised she was up early… I saw her last night getting that disk from Jeremie and you know how low on energy she is if she misses any sleep," Ulrich said and the table fell silent, all eyes on him. "She said she was getting it for you, Aelita," Ulrich finished, wondering why everyone was staring at him.

"I didn't ask her to do anything like that last night," Aelita said, confused. "We were both up blogging and working on music until around 2. I went to bed after that and I thought she did too."

"A disk?" Jeremie asked pensively. A horrified expression crossed his face before he jumped up and ran out of the cafeteria, Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich followed suit.

When they reached Jeremie's room Jeremie was already holding up an empty CD case labeled X.A.N.A. "Aelita, Odd, you didn't see her at all this morning?" Jeremie asked them.

"I didn't," Odd answered and Aelita shook her head, also a no. "How could this have happened? I don't understand," Odd stated anxiously.

"I'm going to go check her computer, maybe that can tell us something," Aelita said and left the room. "Call me if you figure anything out!" she called back to them.

"Let's go to the warehouse, that's the only relevant place that she could have gone to," Ulrich suggested. Odd and Jeremie were both already running down the hall.

"What's on that disk. Jeremie?" Odd asked, panting as the three of them ran their way off campus to the warehouse.

"Remember when I said I isolated X.A.N.A. and expelled him from Emma's laptop?" Jeremie asked. "Well I guess X.A.N.A. wasn't erased from her laptop… anyway, the disk had a copy of X.A.N.A.'s sourcecodes on it and I was going to use it for research once I figured out how to read it without infecting the computer. I think maybe X.A.N.A. somehow has Emma downloading it to the super computer we just built. If that's true, he'll be able to grow stronger, faster."

"I thought he was already in the warehouse computer? From that info Emma emailed you from the computer in the U.S.," Odd countered. "So X.A.N.A. is just trying to consolidate his power into one computer?"

Jeremie nodded, picking up his pace. The last thing the group needed was for X.A.N.A. to regain his strength.

"He's already stronger than we thought, considering he can take possession of someone," Ulrich pointed out. "Especially someone who should be resistant to his control."

"Was that really her though? It could have been another polymorphic spectre and Emma is actually trapped somewhere," Odd speculated frantically.

"We'll have to see," Jeremie answered. "We're almost there."

When the boys finally reached the warehouse they saw that the door was open a crack. When they entered the computer room they saw that everything was running. Jeremie dove into action, evaluating the situation. Emma was in the new sector being chewed out by a flock of the new monsters, and X.A.N.A. was slowly infecting the computer even more so than it already was.

"Get into the scanners," Jeremie instructed. "She's in there and she's not moving… it's like she's unconscious. A flock of those new monsters is taking turns attacking her. I need to get to work protecting my data from X.A.N.A., while you two protect Emma. I will bring her home as soon as I regain control of the computer. I'll call Aelita and Yumi to let them know what's going on."

Ulrich and Odd wasted no time getting into the scanners and Jeremie managed to virtualize them into Lyoko with a fair amount of effort. He went through encrypting his data so X.A.N.A. couldn't access it.

On Lyoko, Ulrich and Odd landed uneasily on the dark red rock ground and looked around to find Emma. "Jeremie…" Odd started to ask but Jeremie cut him off.

"She's due west, in a crater. I can't send your vehicles, sorry!" Ulrich and Odd nodded their understanding and ran.

"Ulrich, go on ahead, you can get there faster," Odd commanded and Ulrich obliged, calling out super sprint to reach the destination. There she was, lying sprawled on the ground, unconscious. The scyphozoa was steadfastly approaching her, its tentacles menacingly outstretched the grab her. Ulrich slashed at them and he stabbed at the beast to force it into withdrawal.

"Jeremie, the Scyphozoa is back and it was just trying to get at Emma. I got rid of it," Ulrich announced, standing between Emma and the remaining monsters. The birds circling overhead looked as though they would attack at any moment.

"Ulrich," Emma groaned softly. "You're finally here."

"We're here, sorry it took so long… We'll protect you now and Jeremie is going to bring you back as soon as he can," Ulrich assured her, holding his defensive stance, eyes locked on the enemy.

"Is everyone else okay?" she asked, trying to move but not succeeding. A bird came down for an attack them and Ulrich sprang into action, triplicating and triangulating around the beast to silence it. Another beast came at Ulrich but was stopped mid-assault by a laser arrow fired from a distance.

"Jeremie, how many life points do we all have?" Ulrich asked, putting himself between the monsters and Emma again. Odd joined him, activating his shield, kneeling downnear Emma.

"Emma has ten left, Odd is still at 100% and you've got 80 life points, Ulrich," Jeremie answered. "I called Aelita, she said that X.A.N.A. is completely inseparable from the laptop, that it only appears eradicated until the computer is restarted, then it just reappears. I told Yumi what's going on and she says to keep her informed but she has some beginning of semester exams today that she shouldn't miss."

"And the data on the super computer?" Odd asked, picking Emma up and dodging an attack. Ulrich sliced through the opponent and the boys stared down the remaining four beasts.

"These things are kind of easy to kill if you do it right," Ulrich stated.

"I'm working on it. I've encrypted the most important things. I can bring Emma back now. Either get rid of those monsters or go hide out until I can bring you two back," Jeremie said as he started Emma's rematerializations process.

"You're safe now," Odd said to Emma as she pixelated out of his arms. He looked at the space she once occupied, failing to notice a head on attack by a monster and losing himself twenty life points. He shook his head, surprised. He looked up at the bird and shot a laser arrow at it, sending it into oblivion.

"Keep your head in the game, buddy," Ulrich advised his friend and the boys worked to destroy the remaining three monsters and went to take cover until Jeremie had a chance to bring them back.

Back in the lab, Jeremie was tending to Emma, cleaning the wounds she had, making sure she wasn't physically or mentally harmed in any other way before Aelita showed up to take over. He went back to the computer and did some more encrypting and brought Ulrich and Odd home. When they came out, they each had some fresh wounds from the monsters as well.

"The fact that their attacks transfer from Lyoko to here really sucks," Ulrich stated and sat down next to Aelita. Odd moved next to Emma and sat down beside her.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

She nodded and noticed his shoulder. "It got you," she said quietly, scowling.

"It doesn't hurt," he assured her.

Aelita moved swiftly, cleaning and bandaging the wounds of the three and then went to help Jeremie at the keyboard. "Jeremie why is X.A.N.A. going after Emma so frequently?" she asked, sounding irritated. "X.A.N.A. has always gone after me for the most part."

"I'm looking into it as we speak… I noticed something was different in her data than in Odd and Ulrich's. I'm going to do some more research on this and see what I can figure out… You guys go back to school and Emma and I will stay here."

"I can go back to school," Emma argued and tried getting up. "I'll just need to take it slow or something…"

"You should just stay here to rest," Aelita reasoned. "Your body has been under a lot of stress and I can tell you right now that you look like you just woke up from the dead. Within the first five minutes of class you'll just be sent to the infirmary anyway."

Odd picked Emma up and carried her to the next room and set her up on the make shift bed and handed her a few granola bars. "I'll be back later, okay? When you feel well enough to move around you can probably go help Jeremie," he said to her and dropped a kiss on her cheek before leaving. He went back to Kadic with Ulrich and Aelita.


	19. Source Codes

Jeremie heard Emma shift around where Odd set her; there were intercoms set up betweent the two rooms so everyone could communicate easily. "Emma, I'll figure this out, I promise," he said to her and went back to the codes in front of him.

Jeremie felt worse and worse each day; he hated that his friend was constantly being targeted. It seemed as though she spent most of her time recouperating from one attack after another. Jeremie felt like he really needed to step it up and stop underestimating X.A.N.A.

But first he needed to figure out why Emma was such an important target for X.A.N.A. why did it want her in that sector so badly? Jeremie compared her to Odd and noticed some new, extra coding in her structure that hadn't been there before. He copied the data and found that this was a piece of X.A.N.A.'s being. Jeremie looked some more at the codes and was sure of one thing, X.A.N.A. inserted a piece of himself inside of Emma, but when? It had to have been before the shutdown of the super computer.

He recalled their final mission to Lyoko, when X.A.N.A. had destroyed Franz Hopper. Aelita and Emma had managed to destroy all of the Replikas in the network, therefore destroying X.A.N.A., or so they thought.

X.A.N.A. had managed to escape to a super computer in Michigan, where Emma visited. It was as if X.A.N.A. knew what she would be doing and where she would be. It had wanted her to discover the super computer, it had purposefully revealed itself to her, and it had known that she would contact Jeeremie and he knew Jeremie would want to see all of the data. It had known that Emma would use the laptop, it had known that she would be taking that laptop back to France…

But X.A.N.A. wouldn't have been able to do all of that on its own; Jeremie didn't think so, anyway. It had an accomplice, an instigator ready to help move X.A.N.A. back to France. Could that woman have been working with X.A.N.A. willingly? She could have easily convinced Emma's dad to give her the laptop, she allowed Emma all of that time on her computer, and Emma said she was almost too good of a person.

Maybe she was putting up a front so Emma wouldn't catch on to her… Jeremie saved his progress encrypting his codes and left the room to talk with Emma in the next room. "Emma? I want to talk to you before the others come back," he said, standing in the doorway. Emma sat up and offered her full attention, though Jeremie could tell she still felt crappy.

"What did you find?" She asked him. He sat down on the floor beside her and explained his findings and his suspicions. "So you think Marian helped X.A.N.A.?" she asked skeptically. "It's possible, I guess, but I really wish it wasn't. She's still hanging around my family; if she's helping X.A.N.A. then she's a major bad guy…"

"Anyway, on a another disturbing note, there are codes, source codes, belonging to X.A.N.A. within you that X.A.N.A. somehow inserted into you as you and Aelita were destroying the replikas. I checked Aelita's structure and found some of X.A.N.A.'s coding also, but not as much as you. My theory is that X.A.N.A. needs them back before he can regain all of his strength."

Emma nodded, "so what should we do about this? I'm guess it won't be as simple as me going into a tower and you doing your fix-y stuff?"

Jeremie shook his head. "For now, I want you and Aelita to stay out of the network. If we need to do any reconnaissance, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich can take care of it."

"I hate this," Emma blurted, fiddling with her fingers. "I feel like I'm always down for the count in some way. I guess it's for the best."

Jeremie nodded. "What do you want to do about Marian? Is there any way you can check up on her without being obvious?"

"I'll write to my cousins and ask them about her. They'll tell me everything they observe and they won't think anything of it, I'm sure…" Emma replied.

"I really wish we could just be done with this… And now that X.A.N.A is infecting the super computer here, who knows how strong he will become…" Jeremie thought out loud.

"Sorry about that… I saw X.A.N.A. still on my laptop and right when I was going to tell you about it he made his move…" Emma said apologetically.

Jeremie shook his head, "Emma, don't be sorry. It's not your fault. Get some rest, I can tell you want it. I'm going to go back to working on the computer. When the others get back we can all talk about it as a group and come up with a game plan." He stood up and Emma nodded, lying back down to get some sleep. Jeremie went back to work on the computer and before he knew it, Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and Yumi were coming into the room. Odd bypassed Jeremie altogether and went straight into the room where Emma was sleeping. Jeremie explained the situation to the others as he talked with her. Not long after that, they were all seated in the computer room, talking things out and coming up with a game plan.

"But what if he activates a tower?" Aelita asked. "I'll need to go to Lyoko to deactivate it. What will we do then?"

"He doesn't seem to need towers any more to access our world… he got to me without one, just fine," Emma pointed out.

"I think for larger scale attacks he'll still need a tower to generate power, but for small scale things like possession, maybe he doesn't need one?" Jeremie thought.

"So he's getting stronger, and we're doomed?" Odd asked pessimistically. Emma elbowed him, Ulrich and Yumi shot him a dirty look. "I'm just saying, it's not looking too good for the Lyoko Warriors right now," Odd added defensively.

"I'm keeping things under constant surveillance. I have the scans installed onto my laptop, this computer, Aelita's computer, and Emma's laptop. I am going to keep working on making Emma's laptop safe, and we're going to come out on top," Jeremie stated enthusiastically. "We always do. We're stronger than X.A.N.A., if not in resources, then in willpower and team work."

Jeremie wasn't sure about what he was saying, he didn't know if they would come out on top or if the world would end for all of them, and then all of man-kind… he just needed to instill some hope into his friends again. He could tell they were losing faith. Jeremie didn't blame them, it did look very bleak.

"We will just have to wait and see what happens… For now I'd like to go back to Kadic and work on a project for the cinema club," Emma said, standing up. "This is depressing, I'm stressed, and working on something else will fix that."

"Emma, is someone working with you on it?" Yumi asked curiously.

"No, it's a solo project. Mr. Chardin heard me sing last year and insists I utilize that in my next film so I need to think about what I'm going to do," Emma explained. "Why?"

"Is it safe for you to be on your own right now?" she asked and Emma was silent for a moment. Jeremie could tell she was taking Yumi's concern the wrong way. He looked at his computer, typing to busy himself so he could stay out of it.

"Probably not but I'd rather make that decision on my own," Emma said calmly and left, not waiting for the others to get up.

"Yumi, you remember she hates when we're over protective, right?" Odd asked, sounding annoyed.

"She needs to stop being so stubborn. Her behavior is probably what makes her so easy for X.A.N.A. to handle," Yumi replied defensively. "She always wants to act on her own and whenever she gets herself in a jam, she resents us for being concerned. It's getting annoying."

"Yumi, you're making assumptions," Aelita pointed out to her. "Emma is stubborn, yes, but she's got every right to be. She worked her ass off to get here and now that she's here she feels like she needs to be champion of school and Lyoko, and because she isn't meeting her own standards, she's upset. We just need to be supportive and help her relax a little."

Odd stood up, "I'm going to go to the art building to keep an eye on her. I won't bother her if she doesn't want me to… but I want to make sure she's safe."

"So Odd is allowed to be overprotective and stalk her but I get yelled at when I show an ounce of concern. Fantastic. I'm going home, I'll see you guys later," Yumi said, sounding frustrated.

"I'll walk you home," Ulrich offered and the two of them left Aelita and Jeremie alone.

"Jeremie," Aelita said after a minute of silence between them.

"Yes?" Jeremie asked, breaking his focus from the computer screen. "What is it?"

"I'm really worried," Aelita admitted after a second. "When it's me X.A.N.A.'s after, I'm okay with that but it is after Emma now and I hate it…"

"I hate it too, I hate that X.A.N.A. is after any of you," Jeremie replied.

"It's worse though. Emma is the new member of our group and X.A.N.A. took major advantage of that. If it had been Odd, Yumi, or Ulrich it might have been better because they would be better prepared to handle the attacks," Aelita stated. "I just worry that maybe we won't beat the virus this time…"

"We will," Jeremie assured her. He wanted her to smile again, he wanted it more than anything. Since they'd discovered X.A.N.A. was back, she smiled less and less. "Aelita, we will get through this. I promise you that."

"My father sacrificed himself to get rid of X.A.N.A. and I don't want that to be in vain."


	20. Into the Desert

I sat at the computer and scrolled through a list of song ideas that I had. I decided I would film a music video featuring strength. I'd sing a song and write a storyline for it. I couldn't decide which song I wanted to do though. I was leaning toward a song called Into the Desert, by a band called Branches. I translated it into French and it sounded like it would be fun to sing and fun to film a video for. The problem was that I would need a partner and I wasn't sure what guidelines I needed to follow for the project. I got up to go present my project idea to Mr. Chardin.

"It sounds marvelous! If you need a partner, why not do it with Odd? I know you two have fantastic chemistry together and it would come out beautifully!" Mr. Chardin said enthuseastically when I finished talking.

"I'll go find him to see if he would like to do it," I assured him with a wave. I dismissed myself from his office and went back to the computer. I texted Odd to meet me when he had the chance; I had no idea if he was still in the warehouse with the others or out doing something else. I still felt a little hurt that Yumi and the others felt like I couldn't do anything on my own, but I decided that instead of being angry with them I would just prove that I could handle myself.

Odd showed up a minute later, "You got here fast," I noted. "Were you here the whole time?"

"Trying to help fix one of the cameras that someone dropped. They totally shattered the lens; Mr. Chardin won't be happy when he hears about it. So what's up?" He asked and sat down in the chair next to me. I had him listen to the song and he seemed to like it.

"I want to use this for my project, sing it and then film a music video for it. You want to sing it with me? I know the female/male parts will be flip flopped but I think that might be cool…" I said. "I already translated it into French and had one of the literary arts teachers check it over…"

"It's perfect," Odd praised. "And I've been dying to work on some music with you. When do you want to start?"

"Learn the lyrics and we can start tonight!" I said enthusiastically. "You want to help me come up with the music video? I want it to be different, something unique."

"Do you want it to represent strength? It should be an adaptation of your story; coming to a foreign country to make a living and a name for yourself is pretty courageous, if you ask me."

"I'd rather not focus on my own life," I told him. "I'd like to possibly make it a fictional adaptation of strength."

"We could make it a literal show of strength, actually put someone in a desert, show the struggle and hardships of the journey, and at the end the person makes it through to where they need to be," Odd suggested.

"What would someone be doing in the desert?" I asked skeptically.

"Camping trip, exploration, excavation," Odd listed and I held up my hand. "Just passing through…"

I thought about it for a minute, I could see a few different things that we could do. "Maybe we could showcase two different story lines. Like one person is lost in a desert and one is lost in an urban environment?"

"We'll figure it out some other time. We'll film our performance as well so there will be a lot to work with," Odd stated. "Print off a copy of the music and we'll get to work on it. Do you want me to play guitar?"

"If we're going to film the performance, we should get a full band together. You can play guitar, and we can figure out the other instruments."

"Aelita can help a lot with that. Let's get to work with what we have right now."

So we spent the rest of the night in the recording studio working on the lyrics and Odd started learning the guitar parts. I called Aelita and she said she could handle all of the other instruments with a soundboard. I started writing out the storylines for the video and scheduled time with some of the theatre club to film. By the end of the night everything was organized and I was certain that this would go off without a hitch.

Odd got a call on his phone, "Yumi? What's up?" he asked upon answering. I looked up from my work and looked at him curiously. His eyes narrowed slightly. "I'll be there in a few," he said and hung up. He looked at me and offered a smile, "Yumi wants some help with a project she has for one of her art classes. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I think we did plenty tonight."

"Alright, I should get some homework done anyway. I'll see you for breakfast," I promised him and started saving all of my work onto my flash drive and shut down the computer. "Text me if you want to talk," I told him as he left the room. I went back to the dormitory building and found Aelita in the room, working on something Lyoko related on her computer. My laptop was missing from my bed.

"Hey," I greeted as I closed the door.

"Hi, how are you?" she asked, not taking her eyes from her work.

"I'm fine. Is Jeremie X.A.N.A. proofing my laptop?" I asked curiously.

"He is. He said he would text you when he's done so you can go get it," she told me, still not looking away from her work. I saw the design for some shields and I looked over her shoulder and saw the window that had the shield labeled "Emma." Yumi and Ulrich had shields now too. Aelita had a proper shield as well, something that looked better than her usual fusing of energy fields.

"So are we all due for an upgrade?" I asked her.

"Yes, it looks like those monsters are going to be a pain in the butt unless we have proper defense so we're making sure we have it. Odd is already covered for the most part since he already has a shield. We're making it a bit bigger and stronger and giving everyone else one. Yours will activate like his, and will activate on your left wrist. As for Yumi and Ulrich, since they have a different kind of weapon a shield like that wouldn't work very well. I'm trying to figure out how to manage theirs… mine will probably be like yours."

"Can you make Ulrich and Yumi's shields like force fields? Something not attached to their being? Something where they just need to think of where the shield should be and that spot will automatically form a force field to protect them?" I suggested.

"That's what Jeremie was thinking. We're going to work on it during gym class tomorrow. I hope we can count on you, Ulrich, and Odd to cover for us?" she asked me. "Speaking of Odd, where did he go?"

"We'll cover for you, Jim is having us do drill stations tomorrow anyway so I doubt he'll pay attention to attendance," I assured Aelita. "And Odd is helping Yumi with an art project," I answered, gathering my robe and bathroom bag. "I'll see you later."

"I'm going to go take a shower in a bit too. It sounds wonderful right about now," she said dreamily. "We'll meet back in here after and study for a bit, sound good?"

I nodded as I left the room and went to take a nice long shower, feeling like I hadn't had a good one in ages. When I went back to the room Aelita was still gone and mu phone was ringing. I picked it up and saw Yumi was calling. I answered.

"Emma," she said before I could say a word. "Are you busy?"

"Just got out of the shower. What's up?" I asked, putting her on speaker so I could brush my wet hair out and dry it off with a towel.

"Can you meet Odd in the woods? He says he wants to talk to you about something and his phone died so he couldn't call you himself," Yumi answered.

"Is it important? Aelita and I were going to study for a while."

"It's important," Yumi assured me. "Trust me. You're going to want to talk to him."

"That worries me a bit. Tell him I'll meet him in twenty minutes. I need to get dressed," I told her.

"Alright. Talk to you later," she said and hung up. I braided my hair into two pigtails and pulled on a fresh set of clothes and wrote Aelita a note to tell her where I'd be. I pocketed my phone and grabbed my hoodie and headed off for the woods.


	21. We're Still Okay, Right?

When I got there I wasn't quite paying attention to where I was going, and considering the fact that Odd didn't have his phone I couldn't just call to ask which part of the forest he was in. I sort of just wandered around, scanning the path. The shadows and eerie sounds of the insects and night birds always tended to make me a bit paranoid. My mind was wandering in that direction so when I suddenly heard a twig snap behind me I spun around, raising my foot up to kick the intruder. I managed to send Odd stumbling backwards. He fell on his ass and I lowered my foot.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed. "Sorry about that, Odd. Are you okay?" I asked him, helping him up.

He shook his head, "I'm fine Actually I'm glad you're alert. I know how creepy it can be out here at night. Besides, I kind of deserved it… I need to tell you something."

"You know I didn't kick you on purpose… well yeah the kick was on purpose but if I had known it was you I wouldn't have done it…" I rambled. "Anyway, what's wrong?"

"I didn't go to see Yumi to help her with a project," he started and I cocked my head, confused. "I met with someone. She made Yumi call me over or she would have come to Kadic to find me."

"Who?" I asked, getting worried.

"An ex-girlfriend of mine," he stated and I was even more confused.

"Someone who doesn't go to Kadic?" I asked. He shook his head.

"She lives in the south of France and her family can't afford for her to come to Kadic so she goes to a public school system down there. Anyway, she is in Yumi's grade and she was at her school today for a sports competition and started talking to Yumi and demanded to see me. She can be a bit possessive so Yumi agreed, figuring it would probably be best if she didn't come to Kadic," Odd explained. "Anyway, she kind of ambushed me when I got there. She started by acting like we were still together and when I told her I'm dating another girl she kissed me and acted as if that would make me change my mind."

I stopped him, "and you let her kiss you? And Yumi let her kiss you?"

"No! Yumi for one wasn't even in the room. I pushed her off me but she wouldn't let me leave. Yumi finally came back in and told Sam that her bus back home was leaving so I could escape. I feel so bad about it..."

I was silent for a minute; I wasn't sure what to make of this. He neer told me about any non-kadic girls. He told me he dated every girl in our grade at school, but never an older girl from the south of France. Should I be mad? Sad? "You knew you were going to see her?" I asked him. "When you left the studio?"

He nodded, "Yes. I didn't want you to worry."

I felt like I wanted to kick him again, "you wanted to see her," I concluded. "And whether or not you feel bad about it, you still lied to me… After we promised to stay completely honest with each other."

"I know. Like I said, I felt really bad about it… and I decided right away to tell you about it. Does that count for anything?"

I thought about that. "Yes, I guess so… but to be honest, I'm still kind of hurt… how serious were you two?"

"We dated on and off for about a year. I knew her through skateboarding and music and we went to some of the same concerts and competitions. She almost got me expelled in 8th grade because she wanted to steal a school laptop, and then she jeopardized a mission by not passing a note from Ulrich to me because she wanted me to herself. After that I decided she was just too much trouble so I stopped the relationship. She's not one to take no for an answer though," he told me and I nodded.

"Well, next time she's in town, I'd like to talk to her. Maybe she'll lay off if she sees how much I care about you," I said with optimism. "And I might kick her ass if she tries kissing you again. Only I'm allowed to do that," I said and did just that.

"We're still okay, right?" Odd asked nervously.

"Always okay," I said to him. I wasn't totally okay just yet but I was really glad that he came to me right away. "Let's go back to Kadic and do some studying, I don't know about you but that physics test tomorrow has me worried."

"Really? You got a higher grade than Jeremie, Herve, and Aelita in physics last year. I'm pretty sure you could almost teach the class yourself," Odd said as we started walking back to the school together.

"I want to keep it that way," I said cheerfully.

"Such a nerd," Odd said, sounding fake disappointed. "I thought I'd shaken that out of you by now but I guess not."

"You definitely got a B on the last test we took," I retorted with a laugh. "I think I'm having more of an effect on your academic lifestyle than you're having on mine."


	22. Making Friends

I had a good sleep and woke up the next morning feeling pretty confident that the day would go well. I dressed and went downstairs to find Odd and Ulrich waiting for me. Aelita and Jeremie had spent the night in the warehouse and said they would meet us at breakfast.

"I'm not quite hungry now, though," I told the boys as we headed outside.

"Neither am I," Ulrich announced. We looked at Odd, anticipating the inevitable food rant.

"How can you two not be starving? We haven't eaten since last night!" Odd protested. "I for one need some real food pronto to get me going."

"Go on and eat then. I think I want to get a work out in before classes. I'll see you two later," I told them.

"Actually, I think I'll join you," Ulrich stated. "I still need to get back at you for last time."

"Oh, you mean when I kicked your ass? Never going to happen," I teased. I gave Odd a peck on the cheek, "We'll meet you under the arches in half an hour, alright?"

"Alright," Odd agreed and headed off into the cafeteria while Ulrich and I headed for the gym. We didn't have on work out clothes but what we did have on was fine. I was wearing a purple short sleeved tunic sweater over a pair of black leggings and he had on his usual blue jeans, t shirt, and jacket combo.

"So I heard what happened yesterday," Ulrich told me as we started warming up.

"What about it?" I asked him curiously.

"Just that Sam tried moving in on Odd," he responded as we bowed.

"He told me all about it last night," I assured him, taking a fighting stance.

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay. I know that having someone make a move on someone you love is a real drag," he told me as we began our fight.

"My day had already been ruined," I told him. "So has anyone been trying to flirt with Yumi, then?" I asked him.

"Yeah, this new guy in her grade," Ulrich told me. "She tells me she's not into him but she doesn't tell him to buzz off, either."

"She's allowed to have other friends. Maybe she doesn't want to hurt his feelings?" I suggested. "I wouldn't worry about it; she's mad for you." He stopped just then, surprised. I landed my move and he fell flat on his butt. He grunted and looked up at me. "I won't count that, you were off guard," I assured him and helped him up.

Just then a boy entered the room, looking perplexed. He saw Ulrich and I standing in the middle of the gym floor and approached us. He extended his arms and hugged me. I looked down at him and back up at Ulrich.

"Um, hi? Can I help you?" I asked the boy and waited for a response. He didn't speak. I tried again. "Excuse me?"

"Hey!" Ulrich barked and pried the kid off of me. "You know, that's kind of weird, hugging people you don't know. Try talking first."

I shook my head, "we've got to go now," I said to the boy, who still wasn't speaking. "Bye!" I pulled Ulrich with me, out of the gym. "We should go meet with Odd now. We can spar a bit later."

When we reached the arches, Aelita, Odd, and Jeremie were all there. Yumi was also with them. Ulrich's face flushed a little and I elbowed him, "stay cool," I advised.

"What's up, everyone?" I asked.

"Just dropped off Hiroki on the way to my school," Yumi stated. "I thought we could all hang out for a bit before I leave."

I nodded, scowling at the weird feeling I had. I felt weak for some reason. Jeremie caught my look, "Emma, you tired?"

I nodded, "Just had a fight with Ulrich, maybe that drained me a bit more than I thought it would."

"As if," Ulrich snorted.

"Who won?" Yumi asked.

"Ulrich," I lied. "I was a bit distracted, I guess." He gave me a quick look but I ignored it.

"Anyway, I guess I should get going…" Yumi stated sadly. "This new school is so boring."

"Have you made any new friends?" Aelita asked curiously.

"Yeah one new friend, otherwise I just talk to some people I already knew from Kadic," she stated as she stood up from her position against the wall.

Just then the boy who had hugged me earlier came around the corner and approached our group. Odd was enticing me with a joke and Ulrich was talking with Jeremie about the progress in the lab. Aelita and Yumi were still talking about Yumi's new school. The kid reached out and gave Aelita a hug, gaining the collective attention of the group.

"Hey, it's that kid from before," I told Ulrich and he scowled.

"Looks like the sixth grader wants to be friends with Aelita." Odd grinned.

"Who are you?" Aelita asked the kid, unsure of what to make of the situation. She gave me a look and I pried the kid off of her.

"We told you before, walking up to people and hugging them is not the way to make new friends," I told him. He turned around to walk away and we all watched as he turned back around and hugged Yumi.

"Hey!" Yumi exclaimed. "Guys, this is weird," she said to us.

Jeremie looked at the kid and jumped up, pulling him away from Yumi. "Guys run, I think it's a spectre!" he exclaimed and we all took off. I looked behind us to see the boy was chasing after us.

We found an empty room and went inside, closing and blocking the door with a nearby broom. I peeked out to see he was standing there, staring at the room he knew we were hiding in. I looked back at the group in alarm.

"Do you feel strange at all?" Ulrich asked me. "The spectre did it to you first."

I nodded, "I feel a little weaker than I should. Aelita, and Yumi?" I asked. "How do you feel?"

"The same," Aelita announced. "My vision is a bit fuzzy, actually."

"I just feel a bit nauseated. Do you think X.A.N.A. sent something out to weaken us?" Yumi asked. "I wouldn't put it past him."

Odd looked out at the kid, "Guys, that kid can't be a spectre. He looks too… sweet."

"There is an activated tower… on a replika!" Jeremie announced, sitting on a table with his laptop. "It's definitely a spectre, Odd."

Odd looked out at the spectre again, "I'll stay here and you guys go deactivate it."

"You sure?" I asked him. "I could stay and distract him, I think it'd go faster if you went."

He shook his head. "You go."

"Do we even have a way to get to the replika?" Ulrich asked.

"That's what Jeremie and I worked on last night," Aelita informed us. "We had most of the old information saved."

"You all have effective shields and tune-ups as well… Odd's shield was strengthened, Aelita and Emma have shields like his, and Ulrich and Yumi, you both have force field shields. You'll have to learn how to use them as you go. Are we ready?" Jeremie asked and we all nodded.

"There's a back exit from this room, take that to get out of Kadic and I'll try keeping the Spectre here," Odd told us. I gave him a quick kiss before I took off with the others.

The run to the warehouse was long but fast, considering there weren't a lot of people out and about in the city yet. When we reached the warehouse Jeremie started up virtualization processes.

"Ulrich and Yumi, you first," Jeremie stated and they climbed into scanners to be virualized. When they were done, Aelita and I went. We were virtualized into what looked to be the old Skidbladnir hanger. I could see one exit out onto a interface.

"We recreated the skid garage and the interface of sector five," Aelita announced. "The heart is now located in X.A.N.A.'s sector."

"Everyone get in," Jeremie told us and we each got onto our transporter spot. I looked at Odd's empty spot and wondered how he was doing.

Meanwhile at Kadic, Jim was walking by the room that Odd was hiding in and spotted that the door was blocked. He looked into the room to see Odd leaning against a wall, right next to the door.

"Della Robbia! What's the meaning of this? You should be in class!" Jim erupted and jiggled the door a bit. Odd moved to unblock the door, his eyes locked on the boy who was still staring into the room; he hadn't moved an inch.

"Sorry, sir," Odd said as he opened the door. He slipped under Jim's arm to get passed him and took off, "I'll go to class now!" he yelled over his shoulder and saw the spectre was chasing him now. He ran under the arches and around a corner. He looked behind him and didn't see anyone. He leaned against one of the arches to catch his breath and suddenly the boy was there, stretching out to hug Odd.

Odd looked down at the kid and scowled. "You really don't look like a spectre to me," he stated. The kid didn't say anything. "And you don't feel like one either. So what's the deal?"

The kid still wouldn't speak. Odd sighed. "I don't feel weird or weak… You're just a weirdo, hmm?"

Odd felt something then, something off. He felt his phone buzz and he forced the kid off of him and ran again, going inside. He pulled his phonee out, "Jeremie?"

"Odd! Are you okay?"

"It's a spectre, Jeremie, he touched me and now I feel weird. I can't outrun him either."

"Ulrich's been devirtualized. They are on a copy of the desert and they are having some trouble with a constant stream of Krabs… Aelita's almost out of life points. It's not looking good for us. I'll send Ulrich to help you out." Jeremie hung up and Odd put his phone away in his pocket. He looked behind him to see if the spectre was still pursuing him; he wasn't. Odd slowed down and caught his breath again, still walking he tried to shake the weird out of his head.

The spectre came from nowhere and hugged Odd from behind but Odd was prepared and threw the kid off of him, "Get off!" Odd barked and glared at the kid.

"Della Robbia!" Jim exclaimed and approached the boys, glaring at Odd. "Jeez, Odd, you upset or what? Taking out your frustration on a little kid… Well he's smaller than you, at least. It's unlike you!" The kid took off then, running away. Jim looked back at Odd, confused. "Odd, we'll talk about this later! Hey, kid! Get back here!"

Odd watched as Jim ran off after the spectre and frowned. "What a disaster," he muttered.

Just then he saw Ulrich running up to him. "Odd! Are you alright?"

"That spectre, when it touched me my hearing became impaired. I didn't think it was a spectre and I didn't notice right away what it was doing so I think it's pretty bad," Odd answered.

Ulrich nodded and grabbed his friend by the arm. "We'll go hide out somewhere while Jim has it distracted."

Meanwhile on the replika I watched as Aelita was devirtualized. "No!" I screamed and sent the Krab I was fighting into oblivion. "Jeremie!?"

"Hold on," Jeremie told me anxiously.

"They can deactivate the tower," I heard Aelita announce a moment later. "Girls? You two need to get to the tower and one of you can deactivate it. I'll walk you through what you need to do."

Yumi and I nodded, glancing at each other. "Emma, you're closer to it, go for it!" Yumi announced. "I'll take care of the Krabs."

I ran for the tower, just barely avoiding an attack from a krab. I looked around and felt a little anxious; I'd been in towers before, but I'd never deactivated one.

"Now walk to the center, you need to get up to the second platform to enter the code," Aelita told me and I followed her instructions. I felt empowered as I floated up to the second platform and entered the code. When I came back down, Yumi came into the tower with me. "Jeremie, now what?" I asked.

"Hold on.,. something's wrong, here," Jeremie said, sounding frustrated. "There's another tower!"

In the real worl Ulrich and Odd were leaning against a bed, blocking the door to their dorm room. "Hey, I can hear again!" Odd exclaimed happily.

Ulrich called Jeremie. "Hey, Odd's back to normal. How are Emma, Aelita, and Yumi?"

"Aelita's fine, Emma and Yumi are still in Lyoko. Something strange happened… Aelita was devirtualized before she could deactivate the tower so Emma did it for her. I think it's the source codes."

"Emma deactivated the tower?" Ulrich asked, awestruck. He put the phone on speaker so Odd could hear the conversation.

"We have a problem now though; there is a second activated tower. The reason we didn't see it before is the signal from the first tower masked the second one," Jeremie explained.

"So there is another spectre?" Odd asked.

"I'm going to do some research on this tower to see if I can find out what kind of spectre is there," Aelita told the boys.

"Meanwhile, the second tower is also in the desert so Emma and Yumi can take care of it," Jeremie told them.

Odd moved the bed out of the way of the door and the boys got off the floor. They left the room. "Call us when you figure out the spectre," Odd said.

"Will do," Aelita said and they hung up. Ulrich and Odd went downstairs and left the dorm building, keeping their eyes peeled for anyone who looked malignant or creepy. "I feel like there's spectres everywhere," Odd stated to Ulrich anxiously.

"Spectres travel alone," Ulrich pointed out. "Don't be paranoid."

Odd got a call from Aelita then, "Odd, the spectre took the appearance of Ulrich," she said to him before he could say a word. He eyed his friend and scowled.

"Is it Jeremie?" Ulrich asked. "Who's the spectre?"

"I think I'll go solo, now," Odd said abruptly, leaving his friend standing alone.

"Odd!" Ulrich exclaimed, irritated. "Who's the spectre?!"

"Odd, the girls need some help. Yumi's lost almost all of her life points and Emma isn't doing so hot either," Jeremie stated.

"Alright, I'll be there as fast as I can," Odd assured his friend and hung up. He took off for the sewers and found the path he needed to get to the warehouse. When he got there Jeremie pointed to the scanner and Odd got inside.

"Ulrich is fighting off the spectre now… Yumi's about to be devirtualized. Give Emma some backup when you get there," Jeremie told Odd as he virtualized him.

When Odd landed in the fifth sector he found his nav skid parked alone in the garage. "We've made some impprovements on the skid, now the Navskids can function separate from the Skid. We'll give you the coordinates for the replika. Don't loiter. Yumi's been devirtualized and Emma's alone," Aelita said to Odd as he energized into his navskid. He rocketed into the digital sea and jetted to the replika without any trouble. When Jeremie let him into the replika, he docked his Navskid. Jeremie sent him his overboard and he took off, flying high to get the best view of the area.

It took him a few minutes but he finally reached Emma just as she was devirtualized. He took out the blok that devirtualized her and then fired another arrow at the last one. He saw the activated tower just ahead of him and headed toward it.

"Jeremie, now what?" Odd asked.

"You might be able to deactivate it too," Jeremie said uncertainly.

Odd grimaced. "You sure?" he asked as he jumped off the overboard. He touched the wall of the tower, it was pretty solid.

"Odd, try telling yourself you want to go inside," Aelita suggested. "You need to trick the stress away. Going into activated towers, deactivating them… it's intuitive."

"What? It's a solid wall, you can't tell me you weren't stressed the first time you tried this," Odd retorted.

"Odd, just focus," Emma's voice rang out over the sector and Odd felt himself relax a little. Her voice always seemed to do that. He focused, telling himself he wanted to go inside to deactivate the tower. A moment later his hand slipped through and the rest of him fell through. He looked around, stood up, and walked to the center of the tower. He focused some more and found himself floating upward.

"Hey, this is easy after all!" he said enthusiastically. "Aelita I can see why you do this so often," he stated.

"Odd, I do it because I kind of like humanity and I don't want X.A.N.A. to destroy it," Aelita replied as Odd entered the code to deactivate the tower. He went down to the lower level and left the tower. Going back to the skid, he drove the main skid home, with his attached. When he came back to Lyoko, Jeremie rematerialized him.


	23. Paranoid Lunatics

When Ulrich arrived at the Warehouse Jeremie handed him a watch. "Now you all have one. These will measure the amount of source codes within each of you. I don't think you all have them. We already know for sure that Emma and Aelita have some... but I want to get some solid numbers."

I looked down at my watch, it had an orange band. Odd had a purple one, Aelita's was pink, Yumi's was black, and Ulrich's was green. I turned it on and pressed the button Jeremie instructed us to press.

"Jeremie, I don't have any of the codes," Ulrich announced.

"Neither do I," Yumi stated.

"I have some, it says 20%,' said Odd.

"I've got 32%," Aelita said.

"And I have 38%," Emma stated. "So I've got the most. What does this mean?"

Jeremie calculated quickly. "So X.A.N.A. is still very weak. Every time you visit Lyoko, you lose some codes, and he becomes stronger. This is also how you can deactivate the towers. I assume that because Yumi and Ulrich were both devirtualized before they could get to the fifth sector, that's why they don't have any."

"So X.A.N.A.'s only at 10%? He can send spectres to screw with our heads at 10%?" Odd asked.

"I'd hate to see what he can do at 100%," I said anxiously. "Jeremie, what are we going to do from here?"

"Well… Obviously we still need to send one of you in every time we need to deactivate a tower so it's not like we can just keep you all off," Jeremie said thoughtfully. "We'll just need to be diligent. If we can help it, just send Yumi and Ulrich in to fight and then have a third person come in to deactivate the tower real quick?" He suggested.

"What if one of us can't come?" Yumi asked. "We're going to have to shut him down before he gets stronger, that's our only option."

"I'm working on it," Jeremie assured.

"Well we need to get back to school before we all get into trouble," I stated.

"I'm already in trouble," Odd stated glumly. "Jim's probably telling Delmas all about how disagreeable I've been today."

"What'd you do that was disagreeable?" I asked him as we all went down to the basement to enter the sewer.

"First off he found me with the door blocked and thought I was trying to skip class, then he witnessed my shoving a small boy because he wanted a hug," Odd explained and I couldn't help but laugh.

"They probably think we're all a bunch of paranoid lunatics," Ulrich stated, saying exactly what I was thinking.

"Guys, I'll see you later. My school is closer to the old factory so I'm going to head that way," Yumi told us and veered off around a corner. The factory was gone but the bridge was still intact. The city planned to build a new facility there eventually.

When the rest of us got to Kadic we went to the vending machines; Odd, Aelita, Ulrich, and I needed a pick-me-up after the mission. The scanners still made us feel a bit wonky, though it was a lot better than before.

After we each received a thorough lecture about the importance of going to class on time from our teachers and Odd was sent to the principal's office, the day went smoothly. After dinner Odd and I went to the art building and worked on the video project. I set up three cameras and another student offered to film by hand. Odd and I got on stage with Aelita and we started. After we recorded the song a few times and were satisfied with it, we discussed some storylines to track.

"We could utilize the forest," I suggested. "The end of the video can be that whoever's lost found their way to the hermitage or a camping group."

"We could have Yumi and Ulrich both lost in the woods separately and then at the end they find each other at the hermitage," Aelita offered.

"That sounds cute," I gushed.

"We'd never be able to convince them. Maybe if we take footage of a bunch of different people trying to fight their way through the forest to join up at a camping site," Odd said. "We can try to sneak in a scene between them but they wouldn't want to be the focus of the video."

"I'd be glad to film," little Milly offered us. I smiled, she was so cute!

"Me too!" Tamiya stated. "I want to work on my camera work, it would help in journalism!"

"So we'll round up a group to film this over the weekend. We'll need some camping props," Odd stated.

"I'll collect props and set up a campsite in the woods," I announced.

"I'm sure Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi wouldn't mind being in the film," Aelita said. "So we can all be in it. I'm sure that will be enough people in the film."

"Great! This should be a lot of fun then!" I said, pleased with how everything was going. Milly helped me load all of the video files we were using into a flash drive and put the equipment away before we all met in the lobby of the building. Odd and I went to the rec room with Aelita to meet up with Jeremie and Ulrich. We asked them if they were free this weekend to film.

"If X.A.N.A. leaves us alone, we will be," Jeremie answered, scoring a point in foosball when Ulrich was distracted.

"You cheat!" Ulrich exclaimed incredulously. Jeremie chuckled.

"You were off your guard," Jeremie stated plainly.

"He's been doing that a lot today," I jibbed and smirked.

"You all suck," Ulrich said, frustrated.

"You know we're joking, Ulrich," Jeremie assured his moody friend.

"So Emma, what exactly are you having us do for your film?" Ulrich asked, changing the subject.

"You're all going to enter the woods in different spots and basically get lost. To make it more realistic and fun for me, only the camera people will know where the campsite is going to be."

"So we get to fumble through the woods while you chill in the clearing?" Jeremie asked.

"You get to fumble through the woods while I set up a wonderful picnic for my friends," I replied cheerfully. "And the last two to find their way to the site, that's who I'm featuring the most. No matter how it goes, everyone will be in it."

"Why aren't you going to go through the woods too?" Aelita asked. "We can have someone else find the clearing and set things up, have six camera people to track all six of us. That way there is more chance a boy and a girl will be the last two out. I think it might be a better film if it comes out that way."

I thought about it. "That's something to consider. I'm going to work out the details over this week and put together our crew. I'm sure Mr. Chardin will be more than happy to help me with doing that."

"Hopefully X.A.N.A. leaves us alone so we can do that project then," Ulrich stated.


	24. Static Electricity

The week went smoothly, I put everything together for filming over the weekend and Rosa even helped me make the picnic for all involved. I had Milly, Tamiya, and four other camera people from the Cinema Club filming and Hiroki offered to find and set up the picnic area for us. I told my friends to each find a spot at the outskirts of the woods, accompanied by a camera person, and had everyone start their excursion through the woods at 1:30. Whoever got there first had to help Hiroki if he needed it.

I found my spot at the border of the forest, accompanied by a girl named Lola. She was a grade or two younger than me and she wanted to be a film maker when she grew up so she hung around Odd a lot. She thought of him as a "Creative Mentor," I found it really cute.

"You ready, Lola?" I asked her at 1:29. "Start filming as I walk in and try to catch everything from whatever angle you think would be best, kay? I'll try to play up the "getting lost," parts for you."

She nodded enthusiastically. "I'm ready, you're going to mute the actual footage, right? And replace it with a song?"

I nodded and started walking into the forest. She followed me and I proceeded to walk through the forest, calmly at first but then I played up the anxiety as time went on. Everything was going well until I heard some extra footsteps nearby. I turned to scan the vicinity and spotted the intrusion. I squinted and moved closer to Lola instinctively.

"Emma, are you alright?" Lola asked quietly, she had the camera trained on me.

I waited a moment and nodded, "Lola, can you go on ahead please? Get some shots of me from a farther angle."

"Alright," she agreed and went on ahead of me and I turned around. She was still going on, farther and farther. I thought that this was best; if there was someone pursuing me, I didn't want her to get hurt.

I kept on guard as I walked and looked around frantically for the clearing I needed. I thought about calling someone to let them know about my suspicions but didn't want to interrupt their quests. Besides, I could handle myself, I was trying to prove that, wasn't I?

When I finally reached the clearing I noticed that Odd was the only one missing. I joined Jeremie and the others and Lola stayed behind. She turned the camera off when I sat down.

"I heard someone in the woods following me," I said quietly to Yumi, who was sitting closest to me. She nodded. I couldn't tell the others discreetly because Hiroki and Milly were sitting with us and we didn't want to freak them out.

We waited a few minutes and Odd came out of the woods from a different angle that I had and I saw Lola and another girl start to film again as he sat down next to me. Hiroki and Jeremie passed around food and everyone stopped filming.

"Hey guys, thanks so much for helping me out with this," I said when everyone passed me their memory chips. "Hopefully I can edit all of this together by the time Chardin wants it done."

"Odd can help you with that, can't he?" Lola asked, always thinking highly of Odd.

"Of course I can," Odd said, putting his hand over mine on the picnic mat, I felt a static shock pass between us and jumped.

"I hate static electricity, I really do," I muttered. I gave Odd a kiss on the cheek and smiled.

When the younger kids left my friends and I ate. Odd, as expected, ate twice as much as the rest of us. There was bread, cheese, tomatoes, avocado, olives and a variation of meats for sandwiches. Also present was a variety of fruit. To accompany the lunch Rosa even threw in sparkling water and a couple different flavors of syrup. I felt completely stuffed when everything was gone. I also felt a little light headed, which I equated to just being overwhelmed and excited.

"Guys, I want to get back to my room to study and work on some programming for Lyoko," Jeremie said, standing up. "Thanks a lot, Emma, for setting up the nice picnic. I really enjoyed it."

"What are you working on, Einstein?" Odd asked curiously.

"Another Multi Agent program to wipe out X.A.N.A. this one will be stronger and more effective, I hope," Jeremie responded confidently. "X.A.N.A. isn't going to have a chance to reach 100%."

Odd nodded, "Emma, do you want to go see a movie or something? I feel like we haven't gone out alone together in a while," he told me.

I blinked and thought back, "Well Odd we spent a lot of time this week alone together… but not on a date, that's true. Just let me clean up a bit. Ulrich, Jeremie, you don't mind taking these baskets back to Rosa for me?" I asked them.

"Not at all," Ulrich said with a grin. "Anything for love."

"Such a romantic," Yumi laughed; Ulrich blushed.

I gathered up the mat and shook out crumbs. I folded it up and slipped it into one of the baskets. I handed the baskets over too Jeremie and Ulrich and took Odd's hand, he squeezed it in return and the two of us waved goodbye to our friends and he led me through the woods to the city. He was walking kind of quickly and it was getting harder to keep up.

"Odd, slow down. What's the rush?" I asked, stopping in my tracks. The problem with that was Odd kept walking and I stumbled forward and fell onto my knees. "Ow, shit. Odd, slow your roll!"

Odd looked back at me, "Sorry, Emma," he said quickly and picked me up onto my feet. "Just really want to get to this movie in time."

I looked around, "odd we're not even going the right way," I stated when I recognized where we were. "We're headed for the warehouse. Did you get the two places mixed up, or what?"

That's when I felt a strong electrical pulsation from his hand course through my body.


	25. Trapping Odd

I felt a strange pulsation charge through my hand and seep through my body and felt my body weaken. I looked at him in alarm and tried pulling away from him but with little effort he held on. I collapsed, feeling as if I weights a ton. He grabbed me and carried me the rest of the way to the factory. I tried reaching into my pocket for my phone but he grabbed my hand and held it away from my pockets.

I could feel my energy slipping even further and breathing became difficult. I looked up at him, trying to look strong and defiant, but came off, instead, as weak and scared. Suddenly He stopped, dropping me, grunting angrily. I tried moving to see what had stopped him and saw Yumi, standing with the real Odd, holding stones. One of them had thrown a stone at the spectre.

"Why not pick on someone your own size?" Odd challanged and the spectre lounged at him in response. I groaned and tried sitting up but my body still felt weak. Yumi came over to me and knelt over.

"How did you know?" I asked weakly. "I didn't even know."

"I heard Odd trying to get free of a trap the spectre had set up and we connected the dots. Let's go!" Yumi said and picked me up, running off toward the warehouse. "I called Ulrich, they are on their way. We're going to deactivate the tower and you're going to stay in the lab with Jeremie where he can protect you while Odd keeps the spectre busy."

Yumi carried me the rest of the way to the warehouse and set me down in the spare room with the bed that I was so acquainted with. She left to be scanned into Lyoko and I found myself drifting to a dark, dreamless, sleep.

I awoke in what felt like seconds, I moved, feeling sore and weak all over, and went to find Jeremie still working on his computer. I stood next to him and watched what was happening. I noticed that Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita were in X.A.N.A.'s sector.

"The activated tower is in X.A.N.A.'s sector?" I asked. "How are they doing?"

"Ulrich's almost down for the count, he's going to come back with some bad wounds, and Yumi's just barely holding up. Aelita's doing pretty well but that's because she's able to get around pretty easily with her wings," he replied. He glanced at me, "How are you feeling? What did that spectre do, exactly?"

"Drained my energy. I didn't notice it until it was too late, then I just collapsed. Thank god Yumi found the real Odd and they found me. The spectre was bringing me here to virtualize me so X.A.N.A. could get those codes," I told him.

"How do you feel now?" he asked me.

"I still feel weak but well enough. I think I'll go walk it off outside," I told him. "I have my phone if you want me to come back."

"Be careful," Jeremie warned me and I nodded as I left the room. I walked down the hallway to go outside. I stayed inside the fence and looked around the warehouse; all in all the building was pretty big. I could see at least ten stories, all of the windows on the upper floors were boarded up and the glass was cracked or shattered in each one. I found a secluded spot and sat down, leaning my head against the building.

When I felt myself start drifting again I stood up, thinking it might be wise to go back inside until the tower was deactivated. I felt something fall out of my back pocket and looked down; it was my pocketknife. I picked it up and flicked the blade out as I headed to the back of the building to go back inside. I heard a sound behind me and spun around, moving defensively with my knife in hand.

The spectre was behind me, and I'd slashed its chest. I saw the real Odd approaching quickly and I looked back at the spectre, glaring until I had a horrifying epiphany; Spectres didn't bleed. "Oh, fuck!" I hissed and dropped the knife. "Odd!"

He grabbed me and we ran into the warehouse. We went to the lab and Jeremie looked up, alarmed. "Odd, you're bleeding! How?"

"Emma's good at self-defense, how's the tower?" Odd asked, leaning against the door to keep the spectre out. I looked at his chest, there was a clean cut in his shirt and I could see blood seeping through the wound. I felt like throwing up.

"Aelita's going into the tower now. I'm bring Ulrich and Yumi back now," Jeremie stated. "Hang in there, you two."

Odd slid down into a sitting position, still pressing his back to the door. I could hear the spectre trying to get in and then the hall was silent. Ulrich and yumi both came out of scanners; Ulrich was badly wounded and Yumi didn't look so hot either. Aelita came out a minute later and we all kind of just sat around on the floor. Of course I was hysterically crying and clutching onto Odd apologizing over and over. Jeremie buzzed around, bandaging everyone like the good friend that he was.

"Emma, I'm not mad at you," Odd assured me. "Honestly I'm happy you're able to protect yourself, and if that had been the actual spectre then you would have at least slowed it down. I'm glad you can think on your feet. Besides, the cut isn't deep and I'll have a cool scar when it heals!"

I looked up at him, "What happened, anyway? When did the spectre trap you?"

"I was going to find Tamiya, she was supposed to be the person to film me for the project and she was somewhere talking to someone. I was trying to find her nearby where my start spot was and then the spectre snuck up on me and knocked me out. When I woke up I was tied to a freaking tree, gagged. I don't even know how but Yumi heard me and got me out after the whole picnic was over and we went to find you after."

"He was tied up near the path I took to go home and I heard him squirming around trying to get loose," Yumi told me.

"X.A.N.A. likes trapping Odd," Ulrich noted. "First a water drain, now a tree. Kind of lame, if you ask me."

"The tree? Yeah that one wasn't very creative," Aelita stated. "At least the water drain was more imaginative."

"I almost died," Odd said drily. "I prefer the tree over the drain, thanks."

"I was put in a freezer," I chimed in. "At least yours wasn't freezing cold."

"it was the refrigerator," Ulrich corrected me.

"Still cold…" I muttered.

"Aelita, check your transwatch," Jeremie requested. She looked down at her wrist and read the percentages.

"It's at 27%," she stated. "I lost 5% of the source codes… so are we going to lose 5% each time?"

"I think it depends on how long you spend in Lyoko. I think next time I'll try sending Ulrich and Yumi in earlier to clean up and closer to when the monsters are all gone, I'll send you in," Jeremie replied. "And I'm working on the multi agent program to destroy X.A.N.A. for good so hopefully we'll have this war won before the virus can become stronger. I do have one question though, for Emma."

I looked up at him, frowning. I didn't like where this was going and he hadn't even started asking the question yet.

"We're going to have to destroy that computer," Jeremie started. "We need to destroy the one in America, in Marian's apartment. Could you do the honors? You know the layout of the complex."

I thought about it, "I would do it but… what if my family sees me? This isn't a high tech facility, Jeremie, it's a residential apartment complex where everyone in my family, who moved to America, is living. The timing would be tricky."

"You'll be in your Lyoko form so you'll be able to use your stealth to stay under the radar," Jeremie countered.

"Why don't I just go back to America?" I blurted. I'd been thinking about it for a while. I looked down at my knees, red faced, when I saw everyone's reaction. "There is a transfer program that lasts two weeks. It's an art program at a college in that area… I'd be able to stay with my father and I could destroy that computer while I'm there."

"X.A.N.A. could do a lot of damage in two weeks," Yumi stated. "What if we need you here?"

"It's not like I can go on Lyoko without making him stronger," I pointed out. "I'm kind of useless here."

"X.A.N.A. is just going to focus on Odd and Aelita, then," said Ulrich. "The virus isn't going to leave us alone if you leave. And who knows, it might just get mad or decide, 'hey, the Russian girl is gone so I should give the other warriors a giant shitstorm of problems that they can't handle without her.'"

My brow creased. I opened my mouth to respond but Odd beat me to the punch. "I could go with her, then we could work together to destroy the computer and do whatever else Jeremie thinks we should do, and X.A.N.A. wouldn't be able to get the codes from me either."

"So we'll be down to just three people to go into Lyoko to fight and deactivate the towers," said Aelita. I bit my lip; it didn't look like anyone approved of my idea. I was glad that Odd was on my side though.

"Four," Jeremie corrected her. Everyone was silent, confused. "I've been going to Lyoko on my own at night to practice, not for long; I set up a virtualization count down and a rematerializations count down each time. I think I'd be able to help in Lyoko if need be."

"And you think it's a good idea for them to go to America?" Ulrich asked him, incredulous.

Jeremie nodded, "We need that computer destroyed. She's right, if it was a science lab or something like that, we'd be able to go through with a teleportation in a replika. It's not though, so we need to destroy it in a different way. She figured out how to do that, so I think we should go through with it. We'll need to find a way to stay in contact, and we'll plan out the mission a little more before it starts."

"When will that be?" Odd asked me.

"In a week. I set it up already. Odd, you'll need to set things up for yourself when we go back to Kadic today," I told him.

"So you were going to go no matter what we thought?" Aelita laughed.

"Of course," I said with a cheerful grin.

"I just realized something," Odd said abruptly. I looked up at him and waited for him to continue. "I missed out on the picnic," he said dejectedly.

"Let's go have dinner and I'll give you my portion," I offered him and rolled out of my position and stood up. "I'm not hungry at all; I'm still full from earlier."

* * *

**A/N: I'm so bad at writing notes... I hope you guys know to leave reviews if you have comments/concerns/questions and I will respond to them probably within the next 24 hours. I am very reachable if you want to talk.**

**Things are really heating up, hmm? I hope you're enjoying this!**


	26. Rematerialization

When we went back to Kadic I accompanied Odd to the principal's office to help him set up everything for the art program. We called his parents and they wholeheartedly gave their blessing and accepted the fee.

"This is quite last minute though, Odd. You're not going just to skip classes here, are you?" Principal Delmas asked skeptically when he hung up the phone.

"No sir, it's an art program and I'm interested to see what I can learn at this school." He signed all of the papers and handed them back to the principal with a smile. It's not often such a fabulous program comes around," Odd said enthusiastically.

When we left the office we went to the cafeteria and he ate. After that we went to his room and took a nap. I woke up at 3:43 A.M., not remembering any dreams. I rolled out of Odd's arms and looked across the room at Ulrich; even in his sleep he seemed stressed out. I turned back around to face Odd and saw he looked a bit stressed as well. I gave him a light kiss on the forehead and got out of the bed. I crept out of the room and went up to my room. Aelita was sleeping so I tried to remain quiet as I gathered up my laptop and headphones. I was still wearing the clothes I had on the previous day, because I hadn't bothered to change before taking a nap. I pulled out all of the memory cards and watched all of the footage from the project and when I got to Odd's I could definitely see that it had been a Spectre; The way he walked, his body language and attitude was just… wrong. How did I not notice the difference?

Of course he and I were the last two to come to the end so I had to use them for the film. I did get some nice footage from the others though so I picked out different clips from all of them. I put all of my files into the flash drive and went to work on the film. I was startled by a sudden tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see Aelita was holding up a clock, it was breakfast time.

"How long have you been up?" she asked me when I pulled my headphones off.

"I woke up around 3:45 this morning and decided to stay up since I slept for so long. I figured it would be best to come back to our room so Ulrich and Odd could sleep. I'm working on the film. I want to submit it to Mr. Chardin tomorrow or Tuesday before I leave for the States," I told her and set my laptop down on my bed.

"Guess you didn't tell Odd you were leaving his room, he texted me earlier," she replied. "Come on, let's go down to breakfast. I'll help you edit your film later. For now we should relax for a while."

I agreed and freshened up in the bathroom and changed into fresh clothes. Then I walked with her downstairs to breakfast. Breakfast on Sunday morning was always the best breakfast; it was always the most relaxed because there was no classes to worry about. Aelita and I walked into the cafeteria and I stopped dead in my tracks, sitting in my usual seat was another girl I didn't recognize. She was also sitting awfully close to Odd. Jeremie, the only person facing the cafeteria entrence, was the first to see me.

"Good morning, Emma," he said pointedly. Odd turned around in his seat, pleading with his eyes. The girl turned around as well, scowling at me.

"Good morning, Jeremie," I said with a smile and then turned my attention to the girl. "Hello, I don't think we've met," I said to her.

"I'm Sam," she replied. "And you're Emma? The girl Odd's dating now?"

"Sure am," I said cheerfully. I could see everyone at the table, and a few outsiders looking in, watching us carefully. "Do you want to go talk outside?" I asked her, "It's a bit crowded in here for introductions."

She stood up, "let's go talk."

"Don't kill each other. Murder is frowned upon," Ulrich advised us, prompting Odd to elbow him in the ribs. He snickered in response.

"So I hear you and Odd dated on and off for a while…" I said, trying to sound casual. I didn't want her to think I was angry that she was here.

She looked sadly at me. "Yeah, but I guess I was too much of a screw up for him."

"How do you figure?" I asked her.

"I don't really know but when he ended things he just said I was too much trouble and he wanted to stop dating."

I thought about that, he said she'd stolen a computer and almost got him expelled, and another time she withheld a message from Ulrich. She probably didn't remember those things because of returns to the past… I felt kind of bad for her, she seemed nice enough to me right now. "Maybe you two were just never meant to continue dating? Breaking up with him gives you a great opportunity to find someone new. There are a lot of guys around, you just need to keep looking for the right one for you," I told her.

"Odd seemed so perfect for me though; we're both into music and sports and we understood each other… So how long have you two been dating?" she asked me.

"Since last winter," I told her, I smiled, thinking of what a nervous mess I was back then. "I was new to Kadic and he and Ulrich showed me to the admin building. Things kind of fell into place from there."

"Oh, can I ask where you're from?" she asked. "You have a Slavic accent but I can't place it."

"I'm from Russia. I speak Russian and Slovak, that's probably why I don't have a definitive accent from either place… I also speak Italian, but that was just a language to learn for fun, I'm not that good at it yet."

She nodded and then a bitter smile graced her lips and the laugh that followed matched. "Well… it sounds like Odd found what he was looking for, I guess I should do the same for myself," she said resolutely. "I just want to apologize for kissing him before, it was a moment of desperation and I feel badly about it now."

I shrugged, "it's alright. I think if I was in your position, I might have done the same thing."

"Hopefully you never will be in my position. Anyway, I need to get back to my parents, we're only here for a few more hours and we're supposed to be visiting family… Ciao!" And she ran off, seeming to be in higher spirits than she was before. I smiled, hoping she found what she needed. Also, I was just glad she agreed to leave Odd alone.

"Hey," Someone called out. I turned to see Yumi running toward me. "Hey, was that Sam?" she panted. "What did she want?"

"We just talked," I told her. "Where's the fire?" I asked.

"If by fire you mean an activated tower , I don't know Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremie are going to find it." she told me. "We tried calling you. Now I see what was keeping your attention."

"Where's Odd? Is X.A.N.A. going to keep trying this bullshit?" I asked, taking off for the man hole. Yumi ran alongside me. "I thought Odd was with the others in the cafeteria?"

"He left right after you, apparently. We can't reach him either," Yumi stated as we climbed down into the sewers. "Guess he wanted to go work on something for the cinema club before your trip."

We both skated through the elaborate sewer system until we reached the warehouse. Aelita was sitting at the computer and she waved Yumi into a scanner.

"Emma, Odd's in Lyoko. X.A.N.A. activated the tower to send a spectre to bring him into a scanner. The tower is inactive now but we can't find Odd. They will handle it," Aelita assured me. "Jeremie told me I'm not allowed to virtualize you. He, Ulrich, and Yumi will find and rescue Odd."

"Jeremie's in there?" I asked, forgetting for a moment that Jeremie wasn't afraid to be virtualized anymore.

"He is," Aelita said just as Jeremie's voice called out to us.

"We found him! Ulrich, you're faster, get rid of the Scyphozoa!" Jeremie called out.

"I'm on it, Einstein. You take care of the krab, Yumi, you get the megatank, and I'll take care of the hornets when I take care of our gelatinous friend," Ulrich commanded.

"Scyphozoa?" I asked anxiously, watching the screen closely. I didn't realize it but I was holding onto Aelita's shoulder as I leaned over it to watch.

"Emma, he'll be fine, stop squeezing my shoulder. There, see? Ulrich just got rid of it. I'll bring Odd back right now," she assured me soothingly. She typed in the rematerializations code and an error screen popped up. "Oh, mother of god," she muttered and glanced back at me.

"Aelita, those bird monsters are coming in and Odd's not waking up," Yumi announced frantically. "What did that Scyphozoa do?!"

"I'm looking into that now… I can't figure it out, I'm no Jeremie when it comes to reading this stuff," Aelita said, sounding hysteric.

I tried reading over her shoulder. It was no use, if she couldn't even read it, I had no chance. "Aelita, send me in. The others can fight and I can take Odd into a tower so he's off the battle grounds, at least," I said to her and walked over to the scanner. "Screw Jeremie, if it was me in there, Odd would do the same."

"Go ahead, Aelita," Jeremie said. "She can take Odd to a tower to be scanned; we'll be able to see what X.A.N.A. did. We don't have a choice."

Aelita virtualized me and I arrived in Lyoko, in X.A.N.A.'s sector, right in front of the battle field. Three of the bird monsters circled wide over the battle while two were lower to the ground fighting with the hornets. Jeremie was battling against a Krab, Yumi was face to face with a Megatank, and Ulrich was fighting off hornets and birds near Odd. He was trying to protect his friend. I called my Overmorph and jumped on, raising my arms to shoot at the threatening monsters.

As I got closer to my boyfriend, the three birds overhead came closer to me. One of them dove down and scratched at my back with it's talons. I activated my shield at the same time as firing laser bullets at the beast. The bird burst into red and black pixels and I continued on to reach Odd and Ulrich. The megatank faced it's laser in my direction and fired, trying to throw me off course but I avoided the beam. Nothing was going to stop me.

Another bird went for Odd but I wasn't having any of that. I fired a laser bullet to stop it. "Get out, X.A.N.A.!" I shouted at them and fired a stream of bullets at the airbourne beasts to get them away from Odd and Ulrich.

"Emma! There is a tower just west of here," Ulrich told me as I approached him and picked Odd up in my arms. I changed the Overmorph into the Overboard for more stability and took off, following Ulrich's directions.

"Emma, when you get there set Odd down in the tower and step back so I can scan him," Aelita told me just as the tower came into view. I noticed the monsters were all following me, despite the efforts of my friends. Ulrich was directly flanking me, holding off attacks from hornets and birds. Jeremie and Yumi were further behind, battling the megatank and krab.

I reached the tower and jumped off the Overmorph and ran inside. I set my boyfriend down on the center circle of the platform and stepped back while Aelita did her thing. I waited a few minutes, suppressing my urge to go back outside and fight off monsters.

"It looks like X.A.N.A. just… jumbled things up? I think we can fix this. Jeremie, I'm going to need you to come back to help me with this," Aelita said finally and I sighed, finally we were on track to bring him home.

"Is that why he's passed out?" I asked.

"He lost all of his life points, but because X.A.N.A. wants those codes he made it so Odd couldn't be devirtualized at all, and also made it so he couldn't fight back," Aelita explained to me. "Jeremie? You and Yumi got rid of the Krab and Megatank, I think Yumi and Ulrich will be able to protect Odd while We fix him up. I'm bringing you in."

"Alright," I heard Jeremie reply from just outside the tower. "Bring Emma in too. The longer she's here, the more codes X.A.N.A. obtains."

I wanted to protest but I knew it was for the best. I looked down at Odd and scowled. "I seriously hate that X.A.N.A. does this to us…" I said just as I began to pixelate and rematerialize back into the lab. I returned sitting, feeling the scratch in my back dampen my hoodie. Jeremie stepped over to me, looking drained and wounded himself. He pulled me onto my feet and helped me over to the other room to clean up the wound. "I'm just so done with this," I finished as he worked on my cut. I looked him over and bandaged him up in return.

"It will be over soon," Jeremie assured me as he finished up. "It gets really hard. You have to think about it this way though; X.A.N.A. knows we're on our way to defeating him for good. That's why he's trying so desperately and constantly to get his power back to stop us from stopping him."

Jeremie, come on!" Aelita urged. "Yumi and Ulrich aren't going to be able to hold the monsters off forever."

"Go," I told him and he ran back into the other room and took control of the computer. I walked back into the room and waited by the scanners. Jeremie unscrambled Odd's avatar and retried the rematerialization.


	27. Break a Sweat

A moment later a scanner closed and then opened again to reveal Odd, curled up, sleeping inside of the scanner. I went over and picked him up, I fought the pain I had in my back and carried him into the spare room. I pulled off his shirt and examined the damage. His whole torso was cut up from the attacks from birds. I pulled his pants down to check his legs, not much damage there. I bandaged them up quickly and pulled his pants back up to get to work on his torso and arms. Even his face had a cut on it.

Jeremie and Aelita came back with Ulrich and Yumi, who were both cut up as well. Nobody spoke while we cleaned and bandaged various wounds. I just sat and stared at Odd when I finished with the bandages. When he finally woke up I couldn't help but tear up.

"How was your chat with Sam?" Odd asked me quietly after a minute.

"How dare you be concerned about that," I said, crying like a baby. "How dare you scare me like that. Are you okay?"

"You've scared me like that before, so I think we're even," he told me. "I feel like shit but I'm fine. How are you? Did you go to Lyoko"

"Just dandy," I replied. "Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi took care of pretty much everything on Lyoko and Aelita took care of virtualization and stuff… I didn't go for long."

"She was a bit scary, actually," Aelita speculated. "She barely let any monsters touch her, she was so furious. She got out of it with one scratch and that's about it."

"Check your watches," Jeremie told Odd and I.

"35%," I informed. "I wasn't on there long enough for X.A.N.A. to obtain a lot from me."

"8%," Odd said after a minute. "So I lost 12% of the codes. Damn."

"So Odd's lost the most out of the three of you," Jeremie concluded. "I can't figure the rate of code loss. It must have something to do with the Scyphozoa. The Scyphozoa hadn't gotten ahold of Emma or Aelita."

"Whatever it is, I'm glad Emma and I are going to America. Maybe by the time we come back you'll have things figured out because we won't be around for X.A.N.A. to attack," said Odd.

We all went back to school just in time to miss our first class.

"You five!" Jim called out to Odd, Ulrich, Jeremie, Aelita, and I. "What is it with you? I always catch you sneaking around and skipping classes. I know school isn't the ideal place to spend your time but it's can't be that boring!" Jim ranted. He glared at each of us individually. "Odd, you look dead, are you alright?" he asked when he got a good look at Odd.

"Spent the night playing a game," Odd lied easily. "Lost track of time I guess."

"Jim, Odd and I are excused for the day anyway to pack for our trip. We leave tonight," I informed our gym teacher. "And the others were helping us get some things together."

"What? A trip? Where are you going? Oh never mind, it isn't my business. Can I count on you and Odd to take a break later and come help me teach the 6th graders how to play soccer? Little monsters are terrible at it."

I nodded, "I'll be there."

"Not sure if I can, Jim," Odd stated. "I still have a lot to do before we leave tonight."

"What a shame," Jim said and then realized his duties. "Alright well move along, all of you! Belpois, Stones, and Stern, get to class!"

Odd and I waved goodbye to our friends and went up to my room. Odd sat on my bed andI packed my stuff up for America. I decided to travel light and I left room for anything I purchase while I was over there. When I was finished in my room we went to Odd's room, where he started packing his things, including every handheld video game he owned, his camera, a load of CDs and a few cords he needed. He was still moving kind of sluggishly, but I didn't rush him at all.

"So the program is only going to cover film?" Odd asked. He still didn't know much about it. He hadn't read the paper I'd given him.

"It covers film and music production. It looks like we'll be assigned to work in a group and we'll have to produce a film with original music. It's supposed to be a very intense program," I told him, remembering what I read from the flyer.

"Sounds cool. You should probably get down to the field so Jim doesn't get all confused and come looking for you."

"Oh, be nice to him," I laughed. "He's not that much of an idiot. But yeah, you're right. I'll see you later. Text me, okay? So I know you're safe."

"I was going to text you anyway," he said with a smile. "I'm going to give my parents a call to see if they want anything from the States. I'll meet you in the rec room in two hours."

I left his room and went to change into gym clothes. The Gym field was filled with scattered 6th graders and a frazzled Jim, lecturing the kids on how soccer could carry them to great heights. I approached him and waited for him to finish his rant, he still hadn't seen me yet, or else he might not have started singing my praises.

"And she's the best striker I've had in years! She even puts some of my guys to shame, even! She should be here soon to help me, I don't know where she could possibly be…"

"Try right behind you, sir," shouted a boy in the back of the group. I smirked as Jim turned around slowly, and jumped when he saw I was there. "What a dope," I heard someone whisper. I don't think Jim heard it, but everyone else sure did. Kids started snickering and I rolled my eyes.

"Jim, where do you want me?" I asked, staring down the kids. "Let's make these kids break a sweat."


	28. Ego Inflation

"We found her on the field, tormenting 6th graders," Ulrich said when he spotted Odd sitting in the rec room. I rolled my eyes, exasperated.

"It wasn't torment, it was just some simple drills," I defended. "And Jim told me to blow off some steam…"

"I think you made that one girl cry," Jeremie smirked, getting a soda from the vending machine. "Are you two ready for your trip? Should we review our plan?"

"Lay it on us," Odd said, pulling me down next to him on the couch. I felt like I was probably really gross from the work out but I don't think he cared much.

"You'll have to figure out how many computer devices this woman has and try to render them all useless. I've got viruses you can install that will directly destroy X.A.N.A. or you could wing it and do some physical damage to the devices, water, over heating it, whatever," Jeremie told us. He started digging around in his bag for the disks he had.

"And obviously don't get caught and don't die," Ulrich added.

"I'm going to video call you every day to check on you two," Aelita told us. "I hate that we're splitting up like this… I feel like something is going to happen."

"Aelita, we'll be gone for two weeks… And you guys will have a good opportunity to work on eliminating X.A.N.A. while we're away. It won't be able to try getting the codes if we're out of its range," I pointed out. "Anyway… Odd, what time is the car going to come get us?"

"In about half an hour, I think. We need to stop in to see Principal Delmas before we go so we should go do that and get our stuff so we can be ready when it arrives," Odd told me.

Jeremie handed me the disks as I stood up and Aelita jumped up, giving me and Odd hugs. I waved goodbye to my friends and Odd and I left to go to the administration building. "You know these two weeks are going to fly by?" Odd asked me, seeing my expression.

"I'm going to miss them though, and I can't help but worry about how this is going to play out," I confided.

"I'm kind of hoping for a nice break from fighting," Odd told me. "And I know you are too."

"We're still going to be doing some fighting against X.A.N.A., just in a different way," I pointed out.

We met with Mr. Delmas and he reestablished the program and how it worked one last time, if we did well then we'll receive an A for the term no matter what our actual grades are. He explained all of the policies and consequences for failing to abide by the rules. When we left we got our bags and headed off for the airport for our flight, which was incredibly uneventful. When we arrived in America Marian and my cousins were there to greet us.

"Hey, Em!" Amy exclaimed when we passed the threshold. She pulled me into a hug with Diana and then offered a hug to Odd as well and he indulged it.

"You're Odd, hmm? You're a lot cuter in person than on the computer and in photos," Diana complimented and Odd laughed.

"Thanks," he said.

"Alright, let's go get your things and get out of here," Marian said to us and ushered us toward the luggage claim.

"Where's my dad?" I asked her.

"He had to take care of something at school and then he wanted to help your aunts prepare food for tonight so he sent us," Diana answered and spotted my suit case and grabbed it for me. Odd grabbed his and we all took off. Marian wasn't a fan of driving the speed limit so the car ride was short. Diana and Amy were busy teaching Odd various words and phrases in Slovak and I talked with Marian in the front seat.

So, how are you classes going?" I asked her curiously.

"Very good, I'm nearly done with a project that I'm working on," she replied enthusiastically.

"What would that be?" I asked.

"Just building more computers, stronger computers… You should see my apartment now, it's covered with computer parts and designs," she told me.

"I will have to take a look," I promised her. "When is good for you?"

"Not tonight, I'm going out of town again tonight to see friends before the semester starts back up," she informed me and I nodded. Tonight would be the perfect time to do some recon then.

"Right Emma?" Someone asked from behind me and I turned to see Diana, Odd, and Amy all staring at me.

"Huh?" I asked. "Sorry, I didn't hear the question. I was talking to Marian."

"Just say yes," Odd told me.

"Not until I know what we're talking about," I laughed. "I never agree to something without understanding the situation."

"He's trying to tell us he's into sports, art, and loves animals," Diana informed me.

"No guy is that versatile," Amy announced, certain of herself. Diana nodded.

"He kicks ass in soccer and gymnastic-type stuff, he's a rockstar on the guitar and vocals, and he has a dog that until last year he hid in his dorm room because he couldn't part with him," I listed. "He is certifiably amazing in every way."

"Told you," Odd said proudly. He winked at me.

"But you see," I continued with a smirk. "He also has a giant head and I've just inflated it a bit more so be careful before it pops."

Diana and Amy giggled and Odd rolled his eyes. "I'm magnificent and I'm proud of it!" He declared.

"Wait, wait, I think I've heard this one," I said and giggled. He leaned forward and kissed me.

"So you kiss her when she teases you?" Diana speculated.

"Perfect couple, I think," Amy announced.

"I think so too," I told her.


	29. Poor Pizza and Pasta Lover!

That night Odd and I were treated to a lot of food. Odd, of course, didn't really know what all of it was. Diana and Amy were both already sitting in the front room with their food and I was in the kitchen telling Odd what all of the food was.

"I told you about this one last time I was here. It's called Haluski and it's basically just cabbage and noodles," I told him. "And there's sausage in it too. There's also sautéed potatoes and onions. Rice and veggies, and my aunt is going to mix some rum and coke for a drink even though in this country there is a strict drinking age."

"I don't understand that absurd drinking age in this country," my aunt scoffed. "As long as you're under this roof, it's fine to drink."

"I don't get that, in Slovakia the drinking age is 18 isn't it?" Odd asked.

"In Russia there is no drinking age, we originate from Russia, our ancestors drank whenever they wanted and seldomly got hurt while intoxicated. Basically we can drink but not a lot," Diana explained.

"Don't be a dumbass and don't leave the apartment, those are the rules for us!" Amy chimed in.

"Anyway the food is definitely different than the food I'm used to," Odd noted but piled his dish high with some of everything. We joined Amy and Diana in the living room.

"Doesn't stop you from eating all of it, you fatty," I teased him. "And how do you think I felt when I first discovered some of your food? I thought tomato sauce looked suspiciously like blood."

"When you were six," Diana pointed out. "Remember? Mama's friend made us Italian food when we all got together a long time ago."

"Italian food is my favorite," Amy announced with a smile. "I could eat pizza every day for the rest of my life."

"Huh, wait. You're telling me you know Grandpa Rome? What a fantastical turn of events! Especially for this poor pizza- and pasta lover! You had me completely fooled! I thought you were really mean and scary. So we can be friends, okay?" Odd quoted Italy from Hetalia perfectly, mimicking the voice and everything. I literally rolled on the floor laughing.

"You two are really weird," Amy giggled. "What is that from an anime or something?"

"Hetalia," Odd answered.

"Alright, Italy, eat your food," I told him when I managed to stop laughing. I was already almost done with mine.

"You don't need to tell me twice," he assured me and dug into his plate. As I figured he would, he saved the veggies for the last, indulging in the meat and grain first. When he was done we took our plates to the sink.

"Hey, dad, we're going to go for a walk," I told my father as we headed for the door.

"Be safe, do you have your knife?" he asked me.

"Of course, it's always in my pocket," I assured him.

I grabbed my cross body bag and Odd and I left, going straight for Marian's apartment. She'd left an emergency key to her building in my dad's apartment so this time I didn't need to buzz a neighbor. I unlocked both doors and Odd waited by the door as I snooped around the apartment. It didn't take me long to find five fully functional laptops sitting in her room. She also had two desk top computers sitting in her living room instead of one. I returned to the door when I was done snooping.

"There are at least ten devices here linked to the internet. There are two desk tops, five laptops, and three tablet computers. I think destroying them all individually would be kind of hard without her calling sabotage," I told him quietly.

He looked around for a second. "Is this apartment fully equipped with fire sprinkler systems and surveillance?" he asked me after a moment of thinking.

I nodded, "The complex has basic security and fire prevention sprinklers. What are you thinking?"

"Well, we could set off the fire alarms but first we'd have to disable security cameras from being able to spot us," he told me. "And I've done this sort of thing before, I set off the fire sprinklers at Kadic once while I was bored. All it took was a lighter and paper. If we play our cards right she would think it was her fault or a fluke accident."

I glanced up and noticed that every square foot there were sprinkler systems. I walked around to her bedroom and saw the same system. "We'd need to disable the cameras," I told him.

He nodded, "or set them on a loop in this apartment so the guard watching the footage thinks everything is fine."

"We should do this on one of the last nights that we're here," I told him. "Marian and my cousins are going out to see a show on one of those nights. We were invited but we can just claim to have work to do or something."

"Let's get out of here for now though. Tomorrow we'll start figuring out how we'll do this but for now, I think we should call Einstein," Odd suggested and took my hand, leading me out of Marian's apartment. We locked the door behind us and left the building.

"Wait, it's like… I don't know, what time would it be there?" I asked.

"Jeremie is still up. He's like a battery: He only needs an hour of sleep to be functional," Odd assured me as we headed back to my family's apartment. When we entered my aunt handed Odd and I each a drink and we went into my room and started up my laptop. I logged into the messenger and sure enough, Jeremie was still online. "What'd I tell you?" Odd asked and took a sip of his drink.

I sent Jeremie a request and we started the chat. "Jeremie, you better go to bed after we're done talking," I scolded him. "How are things going since we left?"

"Things are pretty quiet. Have you found anything out?"

I told him about all of the computers and our tentative plan to do some water damage. He seemed wary but he told us to go along with the plan. He asked whether or not it was clear if Marian knew about X.A.N.A.

"No," Odd said. "She seems pretty nice, but I only got to see her for a few minutes."

"I don't think so," I told Jeremie. "I mean it might be a red flag that she has so much computer power in one apartment, but she just says it's all for her class. She is in school for computer technology sciences. She's a tech nerd."

"We can go through her things tomorrow or something." Odd took another swig of his drink. "By that I mean Emma can while I stand guard. English and Russian are not my specialty. I'll be back in a second. I'm going to go get another drink," Odd told me and left the room.

"Jeremie, Odd and I are going to try hacking the security system," I told him. "Can my laptop manage that or will we need to go to the computer that the system is operating on?"

"Your laptop should be able to. It's not hard at all to hack security. I'll send you an email with instructions. It's so easy I think Odd could do it himself," Jeremie told me with a slight laugh.

Odd came back in at that point, a little shaky on his feet. "Not right now though. I don't think he realizes this, but he's getting himself drunk," I announced and Odd blinked, looking down at his drink.

"For real?" he asked. "It doesn't even taste alcoholic."

"It's grapefruit soda with vodka in it. So yeah it's not straight vodka but you're still going to get a massive headache tomorrow. You're supposed to drink this slowly, over a few hours. Instead you're chugging it," I told him. I returned my attention to Jeremie and he looked amused. "So Jeremie, send me those instructions and I'll look into recording a loop tonight for us to use while we're trashing the computers. Tomorrow we have a short orientation in the morning but afterward we can see if we can snoop in Marian's files."

Jeremie signed off and I logged off as well. I took a sip of my drink and looked up at Odd, who still looked confused. "Here's a twist of fate," I told him, bemused. "Look who's getting drunk now. I am bummed that there's no coke left, I don't like the grapefruit so much…"

"That's my problem," he told me, taking another swig of his drink.

"It'll be my problem when I'm nursing your headache tomorrow. Better cut you off early. We have to set the loop while Marian is still out. Jeremie should be sending me the instructions to hack the network."

He took another swig of his drink and set his cup down. "Should be no sweat, right?"

"I guess. If I need your help, I'll let you know."


	30. We Were Pros

I woke up the next morning next to my laptop. I saved all of the information I had up and closed everything out. I noticed Amy and Diana were both sleeping in the other bed, and Odd was on the floor. I nudged him with my foot. "Hey, you can have the bed for a little while, I'm going to go make breakfast," I told him and he grunted groggily and climbed onto the bed, embracing me so I couldn't get up. "Do you not want to eat?" I asked him. He released me and I chuckled, giving him a peck on the cheek as I pulled on a robe.

I went into the kitchen, where my father was already making some coffee and eggs for himself. I got the eggs back out and cracked 6 eggs into a bowl. My father cooked our food iin silence and when he was finished he went into his room to eat. Odd shuffled out of my room and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. I handed him his food and coffee and sat down to have mine.

"You were right about the headache," he told me after a minute.

"Coffee will fix it. We got a lot done last night," I recollected. "And we did it impaired. Not even Jeremie himself could have done it better."

"I wonder what kind of drunk Jeremie is," Odd wondered aloud.

"I can't picture Jeremie ever getting drunk. I guess I would have to guess a mouthy, show offy drunk," I guessed. "He's probably massively obnoxious."

"What's the plan for today. Chief?" he asked.

"We have that orientation. There should be a translator there for us but we'll probably be able to manage without it."

"And then?"

"Some more recon," I told him. "We could get some lunch while we're out too, hmm?"

"Sounds like a plan! So when are we leaving?"

"You done eating?"

He inhaled the last bit of eggs on his plate and gulped down his coffee. "I wish we could have more coffee."

"There's going to be coffee there," I told him. I put our plates in the sink and went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. I dried off, tying my hair up in a bun and changed. Odd and I left then and walked the five miles to the college.

The orientation was short and as disappointing as the coffee they served. The professor explained everything we'll learn to do and Odd and I already knew how to do it all. There were one or two concepts we didn't know but they were small. After the orientation we were given the material and two rental cameras for us to use. We stopped at a fast food restaurant on the way home and ordered a few burgers and fries and a milkshake to share.

"So we're here to do basically the same thing as we do in the Cinema club," Odd stated when we sat down.

I handed him his burger. "We're here to battle X.A.N.A.," I corrected him. "We're here to shut down those computers. The art program is just a way to blow off some steam in between missions."

"Emma, Odd!" we turned to see Marian approaching us. "What are you two up to?"

I gulped, had she heard us? "Um, just stopping for lunch before we walk home. You?"

"Doing the same thing before I head back to my conference. It's actually kind of boring. Mind if I join you?" she asked.

Odd looked at me and I shrugged. I smiled and nodded at Marian, "no problem."

She went to order and I leaned in closer to Odd, "I'll see if I can get some more information from her. Just sit tight, kay?"

Marian returned to the table and sat down next to me. "So, Emma, how does the art program look?" she inquired. "That art school is supposed to be very good."

"As good as Kadic's cinema club. It's going to be so boring," I confided. "The hardest part will be translating assignments so we know what to do."

She laughed. "Well hopefully it won't be all that bad. It's just two weeks?"

"We should be done with everything before the two weeks is up, actually," I told her.

"Oh, that's great! I mean… great that you know what you're doing in the class. It's too bad you'll be leaving early."

I thought that that was a bit weird to say, but I didn't show my concern. "So what's your conference all about?"

"Technological integration and communications. It's all pretty boring, to be honest."

"Geez, I hope it's not too long," I told her.

"It's all day. I can't wait to get home tonight, I feel like I've barely been in my apartment lately," she told me.

I took my last bite of my fries and started collecting my wrappers on my tray. She got the message and scooted out of the booth we were sitting in and I stood up. "We'll see you later then," I told her.

Odd got up and took my tray and threw away the trash, leaving the trays on top of the counter. "Can we get something to drink before we leave?" he asked me.

"Sure. Are you okay with ordering?" I asked him and held up some cash. He took it and nodded, going over to the counter.

"He's brave. Some of the cashiers like to mess with foreign language speakers," Marian informed me. "I'll see you guys later. Have a nice walk home."

I nodded and went over to the counter. Odd ordered smoothies for us and left the restaurant. "Geez, now I know how you felt when you were new to Kadic," Odd told me when we were outside. "You know, knowing some of a language but not all of it, and feeling totally lost? Not fun."

"Well it gets better. Anyway I found out she's going to be out of her apartment all day again," I told him as we walked. "She didn't say anything really suspicious other than it's great we're probably leaving early."

"Is that what you told her? We're not leaving early, are we?" he asked, confused.

"We're not; she just jumped to conclusions. I can't figure out what her reaction means though. Does she want to get rid of us or am I just reading too far into it?"

He shrugged, "We'll find out if we can go through her files and learn a little more about her. For now, let's play with these cameras. First off, we should change the language setting…"

The walk home was filled with candid shots, playing with the cameras. By the time we got to the apartments we were pros.

"Hey, before we go to my dad's apartment let's just get started snooping in Marian's apartment," I suggested to him and he nodded.

"Why are you snooping in Marian's place?" I heard someone ask. I looked toward the parking lot and saw Amy and Diana coming toward us.

"Who said that?" I asked, playing dumb. "Oh! I left something in her room last time I was here and we're going to find it. Um, don't tell anyone, kay?"

"What'd you leave in there?" Amy asked curiously.

"A picture I'd rather keep secret," I lied. "Odd's standing guard while I get rid of it."

Diana smirked, "than's weird but alright. You're secret is safe with us. We're going out to dinner later, just us. Sound good?"

"Sounds good. See you girls later!" I said and grabbed Odd's hand, going toward Marian's building. When we got into Marian's room I dropped my backpack by the door.

"Did you really just tell them you had a photograph you want to keep secret in here? You know they're thinking the worst right now," Odd informed me. "Go see what you can find in her room, I'll see if I can read anything on the computers out here."

I agreed and headed into her room. I looked in any obvious spots for a diary or journal of some kind and came up with nothing. I looked into her closet and found a file cabinet. "Bingo," I tried opening it but the thing wouldn't budge. It's then that I saw the lock underneath the handle. "Damn, there has to be a key around here somewhere…" I looked on her dresser and went through the drawers but came up with nothing. At last I found a key and went to unlock the file cabinet. I grabbed a few files from the drawer and fingered through them quickly to make sure I had something useful. It was Marian's journal, or older entries of it. It looked as though the newest entries were from over the summer. I read through a few entries and jumped when I heard Odd come in.

"She home!" He hissed. I shoved the files back into the cabinet and locked it. I put the key back where it was and shoved the drawers closed, putting everything the way it was. Odd was opening the window and he just barely managed to get out. She was already opening her bedroom door and I was still across the room from the window. I dived underneath the bed and caught Odd's eye. I motioned for him to get out of the window and close it; He did.

Marian walked in, chatting on the phone. "Yes, sir. I've had this weird virus floating around my computer for ages. It doesn't seem to alter how any of the other programs work but it's still just there… and I can't get rid of it. What do you suggest I do?"

I did a silent celebration dance, Marian knew about X.A.N.A. but she wasn't trying to help it take over the world. I held my breath as I watched her feet move about the room, putting her coat away. "Oh, alright, sir. I'm just stopping home for an hour to check my email and stuff. I'll be back to the conference later on. I'll see you there."

She left the room and I shimmied out from under the bed and opened the window, jumping out and then closing it behind me. Odd was sitting just next to the window. "She knows about X.A.N.A. but she's not aiding it. She's trying to figure out how to get rid of it," I told him.

"That's great," Odd said happily. "It would have been a real bummer if she was an evil mad computer scientist."

"Well I'm thinking… why don't we just try to work with her? We could hint that we have a computer genius for a friend and we just happen to have some software that could get rid of any virus. I mean that laptop is something she gave me, and she'd believe it if we knew about it," I suggested as we headed to my dad's apartment. I froze, "Oh shit!"

"What?" Odd asked.

"Our bags! We left them in her apartment!" I exclaimed and looked back at her building.

"You forgot about our bags?!" he asked and I looked back at him. He was holding our bags up and suppressing a laugh. "I set them outside when you went back in her room just in case something like this happened."

I grabbed my bag and rolled my eyes. "I nearly had a heart attack."

"You always nearly have a heart attack. You're really great at that relaxation stuff Yolanda had you doing for a while," he told me with a straight face.

"And you're really great at..." I tried to think of a sarcastic come back but couldn't think of anything. "Ugh!"

"Everything," he finished for me with a smug smile.

"Singing your own praises, you're great at that," I finished.

We went inside and Diana and Amy looked up at us. I gave them a thumbs up and Odd smirked. Diana rolled her eyes and Amy giggled. They stood up, "Go change, hot stuff, we're going out to a nice Japanese steak house," Diana told me. "Our parents want to go all out before we all have to buckle down and focus on school so they are coming after all."

Amy bounced from foot to foot, "Odd, do you like Japanese food?"

"Not a big sushi fan but I know there's a lot of other great stuff," Odd said.

"Yumi feeds you enough for you to know that," I smirked. "Kiwi sure liked sushi. What, it's good enough for your dog but not for you?" I asked him.

"He got so sick after that one time! I told you that, didn't I? He's got a sensitive stomach," he claimed.

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, well let us know when dinner is. We're going to go call our friends," I told Diana and Amy. They agreed and Odd and I went to hide in my room until it was time to leave for dinner.


	31. Need to Relax

We went out for dinner a few hours later and midway through the meal Marian joined us. "Hey! Sorry I'm late, traffic was killer." She ordered her food and we watched the chef prepare her dish with ease. We had all already had our food, but he piled on extra rice and meat onto our plates anyway. "So, how was everybody's day? I ran into Emma and Odd earlier."

"Oh?" My father asked curiously.

"At the fast food restaurant we stopped at before we walked home," I told him. "She snuck away from her seminar."

"Marian, really, you shouldn't skip any of that stuff," my aunt scolded her. "You could miss something important."

"I went to all of the seminars I needed to go to and skipped the unimportant ones, actually. There was just one seminar I missed that I should have gone to," she stated.

"What's that?" Odd asked.

"It was a lecture on firewall and virus prevention," she stated.

"That reminds me, Marian…" I started. "You know that laptop you gave me? It had a virus on it. Did you know that?" I asked her.

"Oh, I hope it didn't screw up anything," she said, alarmed. "I've been having trouble with one virus that just won't budge."

"I had some trouble getting rid of it but my friend Jeremie took a look at it and managed to kill it. He gave me the software, just in case it came back.. Would you like me to use it on your computers?" I asked her.

"Could I do it myself?" she asked.

"It's all in French and it's kind of complex to translate," I warned her.

"I guess you could come over sometime while you're here and see what you can do. If it works I'd love to see the program," she told me.

"Boring computer stuff… so today Amy and I went to our school drama club and these new girls showed up and acted as if they owned the place. I was seriously about to kill them," Diana cut in and changed the subject. I gave Odd a victorious look and he gave me a smile in return. We spent the rest of the night making various small talk and remarks on stories people told. By the end of dinner I was stuffed and felt like I would explode from all of the food.

Over the course of the next few days, Odd and I started the film program and got a head start on our project, managing to get half way through with it before the first week was even over. I could tell some of the older college students were getting irritated that a couple of teenagers were doing better than they were. I spent a few afternoons with Marian eradicating X.A.N.A. from her computer. The whole time I was ensuring her that the virus was dormant, that it was just taking up space. I told her Jeremie did his research on it before developing the antivirus and he's a super genius so he knew what he was talking about.

On the last afternoon I spent debugging Marian's tablets, Odd was sitting with us. He was playing with a cat that I didn't know Marian had.

"She usually hides from strangers... Odd must be a cat whisperer," Marian joked.

"he's definitely just a cat hiding in a human body," I corrected her and Odd stuck his tongue out at me. "Anyway, Marian I think I've done everything I can for this tablet. You can check the software while I double check with the rest of the computers.

She took the tablet from me and I checked her computers again. "Is it alright if I video call Jeremie?" I asked her. "He can tell me what to look for to make sure the virus is gone."

She gave me her blessing and I logged into my messenger account and sent Jeremie a video chat request. "Hey, Jeremie! I'm here with Marian and Odd, we think we've gotten rid of the virus but we want to be absolutely sure. What should we look for?" I asked him. I made sure he knew an outsider was present.

"Just check through the hardware data," he told me, sounding rushed. "Can't talk now though, I'm having some problems over here, if you know what I mean. I'll call you later!" he said. I could see he was in the warehouse and Ulrich was in the background, falling out of a scanner. I looked back at Odd, who was giving the cat his full attention.

I took a deep breath and centered myself, "they can handle it," I said under my breath as I logged out of the messenger.. I reviewed the hardware and didn't see any traces of X.A.N.A. I went around all of the computers and checked them all. Nothing. "We've officially virus proofed your computers," I announced to Marian happily. "I have a kick ass anti-virus program that will prevent it from coming back. It will work with the progrsm you have already and it's quick to install. May I?"

She nodded, "I'm surprised that was so easy," she remarked.

"Odd, you can install the program on the laptops, hmm? You can play with your new girlfriend later." I teased him and handed him a copy of the anti-virus.

He rolled his eyes and grabbed the disk and a laptop. "Don't hate on cats! They can sense that sort of thing!"

"Let me make you two some food to show my thanks," Marian said and went into the kitchen as Odd and I went through and installed the anti-X.A.N.A. program. It didn't take long to install the program on one computer, but considering we had ten devices to work on, it did take us about an hour to finish everything and double check everything.

"You're such an OCD," Odd teased me as I went around and checked the program a third time.

"Add that to the list of reasons you can't resist me?" I asked him and he smiled.

"It's not a list anymore, I lost track a long time ago," he told me just as Marian came out with bags of chocolate covered pretzels. His face lit up.

"So, Marian, you should be all set… let me know if the virus pops up again, okay?" I told her. "And thanks for the pretzels!"

Odd took the pretzels and I gave her a quick wave goodbye before we left her apartment.

"We need to call Jeremie back, something was wrong with Ulrich and I want to make sure everything's okay," I told Odd when we were alone.

"What? Did I miss something?" Odd asked, confused and alarmed.

"You were making friends with the cat. When I called Jeremie I saw Ulrich fall out of the scanner an then Jeremie hung up on me."

When Odd and I finally logged into my computer we managed to call Jeremie. Aelita answered. "Guys, sorry about earlier. There was a pretty nasty X.A.N.A. attack and I just deactivated the tower… The return to the past isn't working so Ulrich and Yumi aren't doing so well right now. Jeremie just went out to get some first aid supplies and such for them and they're in the next room."

"Aelita, what happened? Are Ulrich and Yumi going to be okay?" Odd asked anxiously.

"Instead of getting me into Lyoko like we thought X.A.N.A. would do while you were gone, the virus went after Yumi and Ulrich instead. It was a nightmare. He's trying to get rid of them so he can get to us easier," she told us. "Ulrich was dragged into Lyoko and virtualized into a skid itself, and X.A.N.A. sent it out to a replika to hide him and get rid of him. Yumi and I went in to try to find him and it took a while but we realized where he was and by that time we were both already kind of beaten up. Don't ask me how but we managed to save Ulrich but it was was close… and such a blur…. It seemed like X.A.N.A. was more threatening than usual."

"He might have been acting up because we just erased him from Marian's computers. I hate that we're not there. I think we might come home early," I said.

"No," Odd and Aelita both said at the same time. I looked at Odd, confused.

"X.A.N.A. wants us to come back early… I think that's why he's trying to cause all this damage," Odd told me. "I think he's just throwing a temper tantrum. X.A.N.A. is acting like a little kid right now, just doing whatever to get attention. We need to stay here to make sure things are settled here and let the others do their work."

"But this is dangerous. I mean what if X.A.N.A. does this again? He could actually kill one of them! I think it's better if we go back.." I argued. "Aelita?" I wanted her to back me up but I had a feeling she wouldn't.

"Emma, we've been in tight situations like this before," she pointed out. "Once I fix this return to the past we'll be fine. Ulrich and Yumi will be alright, they've come out of battles in worse shape than this."

I saw Jeremie run past Aelita with an armful of grocery bags and she looked back at him. "How is your mission going there?" she asked us when she looked back at the screen.

"We've eliminated X.A.N.A. in the computers here," I repeated.

"Is there any way you can scan the network in our area for any traces of X.A.N.A. here to be sure?" Odd asked.

She nodded, "I will run a scan after I finish with fixing the return to the past. I think I've just about got it! I'll talk to you guys later, bye!" she ended the conversation and I logged out of the messenger.

"Stop worrying," Odd advised me. "They know how to handle this. We can finish the college program here and visit with your family and go back refreshed and ready to kick X.A.N.A.'s ass. Okay?"

"I hate that he's only going after them because he can't get what he wants right now. If we were there…" I trailed off, knowing he didn't want to hear me finish the sentence.

"He'd attack you, me, and Aelita. And I know you were about to hand me the 'I'd rather it be me,' crap but no, no it would suck no matter who he was attacking. Stop trying to play the martyr."

"I just hate when my friends get hurt. Yes, I agree it sucks when any of us gets hurt but for me it's the worst when any of you gets hurt," I explained. "I just wish all of this would end."

"It will, we just need to relax and take things as they come until it does."


	32. Outrun Them

The trip continued on slowly. Odd and I finished our film and music projects and presented our work to the class. Most of the students didn't like it just because it was multilingual. The professor didn't mark us down at all for it and we both received an A+ for the work. I was sad to see the rental cameras returned, but glad to see we could keep everything else.

Marian said that her computers were all still virus free and she seemed happy about it. I checked back in with our friends and saw that Ulrich and Yumi were both perfectly fine. I felt less guilty about not going back early and spending the last three days in Michigan with my cousins, going out with their friends and relaxing. When it came time to pack up and head back to France, I was actually a bit sad. I knew I would miss everyone so much! My cousins did promise to keep in touch via video chat though so that made it easier to part ways.

"Damn it! It happened again!" I exclaimed, glaring at my suitcase.

Odd looked up from his own suit case. "What? Did something break?" he asked.

"I can't fit my stuff in here!" I told him helplessly. "I don't know what it is…"

"The two new hoodies, animal hats, skinny jeans, and shoes might be it," he pointed out with a laugh. "Put some of it in my suitcase, I still have some room."

"No, no, I'll try redistributing it between my carry on and suitcase… it has to work!" I was determined. After another twenty minutes of struggling I finally managed to get everything to fit. Barely. The backpack was bulging a bit but it was still a success.

"Emma?" I heard, a knock at the door followed. I turned to see Marian standing there, looking distraught. "It's back."

"What's back?" I asked, concerned.

"The virus; it showed up on my first computer, but not on any of the others yet."

Odd looked at me, concerned. I shook my head, "Marian I'll come over now and see what I can do. I'll bring my laptop so I can video conference Jeremie and Aelita to see what they think as well."

"Want me to come with you?" Odd asked.

I shook my head again. "We leave tomorrow morning. It wouldn't help us if we're both dragging ass."

"I'm sorry about this," Marian apologized. "I hope it won't take you too long. I tried everything you told me would work and it's not budging."

"I'm sure we can figure it out," I told her as she and I left my room, I turned back to Odd before I closed the door. "You can take the bed, hon. I'll be back!"

Marian and I went out to her apartment and I saw all of the laptops and tablets were out in her living room along with the desk tops. I guess this made things easier. I set up my laptop and signed into the messenger program. I called Jeremie and told him the situation. He conferenced Aelita into thhe conversation. I could see Jeremie was in the Warehouse, and Aelita was in her room with Yumi and Ulrich.

"That's strange… Emma, turn the computers on and check them all out," Jeremie suggested to me. "Then try the antivirus."

I turned the computers on and Marian stood back, just staying quiet and watching. I figured that she wanted to stay out of the way. When I was done turning on the laptops I began checking them for the virus. It was there, and X.A.N.A.'s symbol flashed in all of the screens.

"This is mega weird," I muttered.

"Hey, Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich? There's some activated towers somewhere," Jeremie told them. "Can you all come to the warehouse?"

"Some? How many?" Ulrich asked.

"I see… 5? What? They're all on replikas?" Jeremie sounded baffled.

"We'll be right there," Yumi promised. I felt the laptop in my hands heat up and a cloud of smoke emerged from it, along with all of the other devices.

"Holy shit!" I gawked, dropping the laptop like a hotcake. I backed away from the smoke and looked down at my laptop. Could they see this?

"Emma, get out of there," Aelita urged me. "Get Marian out too!"

"Go deactivate the towers!" I urged them and took off, out of the apartment with Marian on my heels. I ran toward my father's apartment building and ran inside to get Odd. I buzzed through my dad's apartment, bypassing questions and concerns from my relatives. I went into my room and found Odd sitting on the bed reading a graphic novel.

"X.A.N.A.'s up and activated towers in replikas run by the computers in Marian's apartment. We need to get out of here," I told him quickly. I heard a commotion in the living room and the two of us ran out to see what was going on. X.A.N.A. had my family possessed.

"Damn," Odd breathed. He looked around and grabbed me by the hand, jumping onto an open window sill. I followed his lead and jumped out, landing somewhat steadily on the grass below. "How are we going to get out of this?" Odd asked me urgently.

"The others are going to try deactivating all of the towers. We just need to outrun them, I guess," I said, shaken by the idea of my whole family being possessed by an evil multi agent computer virus.

"Then let's go!" Odd bellowed as a possessed Diana jumped down to join us, X.A.N.A. in her eyes. Odd pulled me away from her and made me run ahead of him as we took off out of the apartment complex.

Odd and I ran a mile or so before I stopped, trying to figure out where we were. I knew the area pretty well, but that was during the day. I could see we were at a cross section now, and further ahead there was a bridge. I grabbed Odd's hand and rushed across the street. The light for us to cross was red so we ran into traffic, but because we were both pretty good with timing, we managed to get across safely. Of course, we didn't avoid being honked and cursed at. I took Odd underneath the bridge and prayed that my family wouldn't find us.

"It smells like ass down here," Odd mentioned and I sighed, of course he would say something like that.

"I think it's more like your feet," I retorted and peeked up, my family was nowhere in sight. "I wish we had a way to see how the group was doing in the network." I scowled, loathing this feeling.

"They are probably kicking ass and taking monster names," he assured me. "You know how our friends are. If anyone's in danger they kick it into hyper drive. We'll be fine."

Just then Amy and Diana snuck under the bridge. Odd didn't see them but I did, I pulled him out of the way just as Diana reached out. She grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to her, grabbing my back so I couldn't move away from her, an electric pulse burnt through my flesh and I felt the charge surge through my body. I cried out, feeling my senses being scrambled.

Odd pulled her off of me and I collapsed, useless, to the ground. I tried shaking the tingling feeling from my body but it hung on. I felt my body grow numb and I knew this could potentially be a very bad thing. I watched as Odd kicked Amy and Diana into the drainage water and grab me. I tried moving my legs but they were useless.

"You're a dumbass!" He gritted his teeth as he picked me up. "You just had to get between us and get yourself paralyzed."

"I'm sorry," I replied weakly. "It's instinct. I couldn't let her do that to you."

He set me on her back and crawled from beneath the bridge and took off running down the street, looking around for threats. He took me to a community center, with a running track surrounded by bleachers. He went into the track and walked underneath the bleachers, setting me down on the pavement and looking at my back.

"It's burned," he told me. "Usually electric charges don't cause this much injury. This is bad…"

"Odd, I think you should go on and keep running. Leave me here and you'll have a better chance of outrunning them," I told him. "They probably won't be able to find me in here."

"Emma, you know I won't leave you here. Besides, I don't know my way around here," he told me. "I'd just get myself horribly lost."

"Jeremie's probably going to set a return to the past after he deactivates the towers, so even if you do get lost you'll end up back in our room before any of this happens anyway," I pointed out. "They'll have a harder time if we split up," I tried. I stood up, slow but sure. "I can walk now, I can fight back if they do find me. So go, I'll see you later."

He nodded reluctantly and gave me a kiss before he took off out of the bleachers. I heard his footsteps as he ran off and decided to wake my body up with some stretches. When I finished, I felt good as new. I walked out from under the bleachers and ran off in the opposite direction as Odd and went deeper into the community center campus, I noticed the facility indoors was still open to the public so I went inside. I wandered past the front desk and found a small café next to the library that was just about to close.

"Well, look who it is, it's camera girl," came a voice from behind the counter of the café. I looked into the shop to see the boy I'd met at my dad's college. I smiled and walked inside, feeling as though this would be a good enough place to hide out. I was also curious about this guy.

"Hello," I greeted. "I don't have a name for you yet," I told him.

"Call me Skye, and I'm going to assume your name isn't just camera girl, right?" he asked me.

I nodded, "I'm Emma Kozlov," I told him.

"You want a coffee?"

"I don't have any money on me, sorry," I told him regrettably.

"The place closes in fifteen minutes and I'm supposed to start dumping the extra stuff out anyway. Don't worry about it," he told me and grabbed a small cuffee cup and dressed it with that extra piece of cardboard to keep it from burning his hand when he filled it. "mocha or french vanilla?" he asked me.

"French vanilla, please," I told him.

"So what brings you here?" he asked.

I thought about the X.A.N.A. attack. "Oh, just needed to get out of the apartment for a while," I told him. It was the truth, after all.

"Cool," he answered, handing me the coffee.

I spotted Amy come down the hall and fought the urge to run. I smiled at Skye, "Well I really should get going," I told him and he blinked, confused. Before he could protest I ran out the emergency exit door.

"Hope she didn't see me…" I breathed, leaning against the door. I took a drink from the coffee I had. "That's not very good," I noted but didn't like the idea of throwing it away… it was a free cup and a gift, after all. I scanned the vicinity and spotted Odd in the distance, he hadn't gone very far. I mapped out the grounds of the community center in my head and proved myself wrong, considering I was on the other side of the campus from where we'd split.

I ran to catch up with him and managed to catch him pretty easily. "You're a pretty lame distance runner," I told him when I caught up to him. "Any sign of the family?" I asked him.

"I didn't want to put too much distance between us just in case you changed your mind about splitting up. And no, I wonder where they are?" He wondered and slowed down. "Where'd you get the coffee?" he asked.

"Nowhere. You think they deactivated the tower?" I asked.

The blinding light that meant a return to the past answered that question.


	33. Never Better

When the next morning finally rolled around, I still felt like crap. Though the return to the past should have healed any injury, my back was still brunt. I also still felt a little stiff. Odd, on the other hand, felt like he was in tip-top shape. I envied his energy.

"How can you be awake right now? I asked him and glanced at the clock.

"I actually got sleep last night. You would have gotten sleep too if you let me help you with the computer problem. Did you eliminate X.A.N.A. for good this time?" he asked me.

I nodded, "I made some improvements in Jeremie's program and I did some things within the computer itself. Now if X.A.N.A. tries gaining control of it again, it will drain some of his power into a dead space."

"How did you manage that?" He asked, bewildered.

"You know how we have some source codes within us? I just looked into those codes and made some calculations… long story short, I managed to trap the virus so that if it tries to spread, it will delete its own power into a sort of virtual trash can," I told him. "Jeremie helped me out a bit but most of it was my own."

"Was there a scientist greater than Einstein?" Odd asked.

"Well there's Franklin, Graham Bell, Binet, Volta… I think Volta was my favorite. He discovered methane," I explained to Odd. "Why?"

"I shall call you Volta. Jeremie is Einstein, Aelita is Mrs. Einstein, and you shall be Volta," Odd said happily. "My girlfriend is a genius and everyone shall know of it!"

"My daughter is a genius?" my dad asked, walking into the kitchen. "Odd, are you just now realizing? Tsk, tsk."

Odd grinned, "No sir. I've known that she's a super genius since the day I met her."

"So now I'm a super genius? I'm flattered," I said and kissed Odd on the cheek. "You want more food before we leave?" I asked him.

"Nope, I'm full up for now," he assured me.

"When is your flight back?" my dad asked us.

"In two hours," I told him. "We're all ready. We're just waiting for our ride to wake up."

"I'm getting there," he promised me. "Just go pack the car up. I'll be ready soon."

Odd and I did as we were told and packed all of our bags into the car. He climbed in and I followed, sprawling out over the seat and resting my head on his lap. I let my eyes close, allowing myself a minute to rest before my dad came out and started driving. I was never one for sleeping in the car.

When he came out and started the car up, he turned to look at Odd and I and said, "Emma, how late did you stay up, anyway?"

"I came in past midnight," I told him. "I had to help Marian with her computers."

"I don't understand why that girl has so many computers. Sure she is going to school for computer sciences but still," my dad muttered and focused on driving.

"She's a gamer, she needs a lot of power for a lot of that stuff. Plus she's a tech nerd, collecting computers is a part of that just like with any other hobby," I explained to him and he dropped the subject.

The ride was quiet and I got to ride on the luggage cart through most of the airport. The flight was just as quiet and I slept through most of it. When we landed I couldn't believe it. Coming out to the luggage claim I was tackled by Aelita and Yumi.

"Oh my god, guys!" I exclaimed and nearly cried. I didn't realize how much I missed them. Someone touched the burn on my back and I flinched.

"Guys, watch her back," Odd warned them. "The last attack, after the return trip she didn't heal."

Aelita and Yumi withdrew immediately and looked at me, alarmed. I put my hands up, "I'm fine. So what did we miss?"

"We've made some progress in Lyoko," Jeremie stated. "And I've been extending and perfecting the network scan. We should be able to find every little hiding spot of X.A.N.A.'s without any trouble now."

I nodded, "that's great. So my plan was a success! Let's get out of here, I'm starving!"

"Okay, Odd, let's go eat," Ulrich said sarcastically. He and Jeremie carried our suitcases for us and the six of us went out to find the van that was supposed to pick us up. We went back to Kadic and tossed our things in our rooms, checked in with Principal Delmas, and headed for the cafeteria for some food.

"Oh, Odd!" said Aelita suddenly. "Guess what?"

"What?" he asked between bites of hamburger.

"There's a party coming up next weekend. Jim asked me if we would co-DJ. Are you in?" she asked.

"Hell yeah! That sounds great!" Odd said enthusiastically. "When is it? Saturday?"

"Yeah. It's a masquerade party too! Doesn't that sound cool?"

"What's the occasion?" I asked. I couldn't think of any holidays that were coming up.

"It's kind of a late Halloween party, I guess," Aelita stated.

"Wish I could come," Yumi said sadly. "I'm surprised they let me hang out here as much as I do."

"I'm not going," Ulrich stated. "The masquerade thing sounds kind of dumb, if you ask me."

"You're just a total lame-o," I told him. "Guess you and Yumi can hang out that night instead?" I suggested with a grin.

"There is a movie coming out that night," Ulrich stated, looking at Yumi.

"I already purchased tickets," she said, pulling them out of her pocket. She handed one to Ulrich. They smiled at each other and both blushed slightly.

"Get a room," Odd said, feigning disgust. "We're in public, guys."

"So Ulrich is skipping, Aelita and Odd are DJing, Jeremie, you're coming right?" I asked him. "I need a friend date!"

"I can take a night off my computer work," Jeremie said. "Friend date it is."

"Odd, I think that means we're friend dating too," Aelita said with a grin.

"Great," Odd said. "Sounds like it will be a good night."

Ulrich walked Yumi home and Aelita and I went to our room. She looked at my back and rubbed some burn ointment on it for me. I unpacked and told her how the trip went. I only assumed that Odd and Jeremie were doing the same thing.

"You want to go get a work out in before we turn in?" I asked Aelita.

"Sounds good," she replied. We changed into our gym clothes and walked down to the gym. I noticed no one was there.

"So, Pencak silat?" She asked me. I nodded and we walked to the center of the gym floor and bowed.

"Is your burn okay?" she asked as we started sparring.

"it hurts a bit when I move but it's fine," I assured her. "So how are you and Jeremie doing?" I asked her, trying to keep my breathing steady.

"We've been doing really well," She told me happily. "You and Odd?"

"Never better," I told her. "Do you think that's weird? It seems like we're the only couple our age that doesn't fight or do that break-up-make-up thing."

"I think that's because your relationship is different than most of the ones people our age have," Aelita said after a minute. "I mean, being Lyoko Warriors, we can't afford to tear each other apart over stupid things. Plus I think once you've saved someone's life, a stronger connection grows."

"I guess that's true," I agreed. "I guess I never pay attention to any of his faults because his saving my ass all the time makes up for any that he has."

"Jeremie gets on my nerves sometimes, but the fact that I know that he's always there for me, outweighs his computer addiction," Aelita confided.

"Ulrich and Yumi seem to be acting more couple-y lately too," I noted.

"Is this what you two talk about when you train with each other?" Jeremie asked, chuckling. Odd stood beside him, smirking.

"No, usually we catch each other up on our menstrual cycles," I replied sarcastically. Aelita and I stopped sparring. "Jeremie, what else is there for us to talk about?"

"X.A.N.A.'s activated a tower," Odd answered for him.


	34. Mirror Image

"Ulrich and Yumi are on their way to the warehouse now. Emma, you stick around here to hold down the fort, and Aelita you come with Odd and I to meet with Ulrich and Yumi," Jeremie instructed. 'From what I can tell, it looks like a spectre is loose."

"Who is the spectre imitating?" I asked him as Aelita walked over to join the boys.

"I think you'll find out soon enough," Odd told me and the three of them took off.

"What the hell does that mean?" I called after them. "Odd!"

I glared at the door and rolled my eyes, exasperated. I grabbed my towel and wiped sweat off my brow. I kneeled down to grab my water bottle and took a gulp. I heard a slamming noise behind me and jumped up, only to be faced with a mirror image of myself.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed and jumped back, taking a fighting stance. "Those losers could have given me more warning."

"Guess they didn't want you to have a heads up," the spectre replied, lunging forward. I dodged her attack and side kicked her away from me. I sprinted for the door and shut it behind me. I found a tree branch nearby and slid it through the door handles to lock her in. I looked around to see if anyone was around and called Jeremie.

"Did you find the spectre?" he asked upon answering.

"You and Odd are dead," I replied. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"We didn't know whether or not you were the spectre," Jeremie answered, trying to sound reasonable. "You understand."

"You still suck. How does it look on Lyoko?"

"Talk to Odd, I'm about to go in." I heard some scratching and feedback.

The spectre broke through the door and glared at me. I backed up and took off toward the Kadic gates. "Odd, what's going on in Lyoko?" I asked him.

"I just virtualized Jeremie. Ulrich almost just fell into the digital sea, but Yumi devirtualized him before he could. Aelita is getting rid of those bird monsters. How are you doing?"

"Pissed off, running, and pissed off some more. Let me know if anything changes," I told him and hung up. I took off through the city and headed through a crowd of shoppers. Ii glanced behind me to see how I was doing and saw the spectre wasn't far behind. She shoved her way through the people, receiving several glares from them. I picked up my pace and headed into an alley, turning to face her.

"You're such a pest," I said and she shrugged. I noticed how much more responsive and real this spectre was compared to older spectres. The old ones kind of just grunted and glared. This one seemed angry, but she had more depth to her.

"Guess I take after the one I'm emulating," she replied and outstretched her hand. I found a broken mirror leaning against a dumpster and grabbed it just in time for her to send a charge of electrical energy at me. The attack bounced off the mirror and shot back at her. I peeked out in front me me and saw the mirror had shattered completely, with pieces scattered on the ground in front of me. The spectre was lying unconscious in the street in front of me. I dropped the mirror and ran out to the other side of the alley, landing myself on another street. I ran down the street and found an open manhole nearby and jumped in, hoping she wouldn't think to look for me in the sewers.

I felt my phone buzz and answered it. "What's the word?" I asked Odd.

"Aelita's been devirtualized. I'm going in to deactivate the tower… Or try. The monsters just keep coming. How are you doing?"

"Chilling in the sewers. So Aelita and Ulrich are both down for the count. How are Jeremie and Yumi doing?"

"They are both hanging in there," Odd told me. "Oh wait, Yumi's out… I'm handing you over to Ulrich."

"Emma, how are you?" he asked me. I looked up to see a shadow looming over the manhole. I backed away from the entrence but too late. The spectre jumped down, smirking at me.

"Nice hiding spot. You think you should have gotten a bit farther in before you started chatting?" she asked me.

"Ulrich, I'm fine. Deactivate the tower!" I told him and hung up. I took off down the sewer and rounded a corner; I looked behind me to see she wasn't there anymore. I looked ahead again and skidded to a halt, she was right in front of me. She grabbed me and threw me into the sewer water. I held my breath and plugged my nose. I nearly gagged at the odor in the water.

"Do you like the shit water? You belong there," she told me and sent an electric charge at me. I avoided the initial blast but the electric current spread through the water and I still got shocked.

I gritted my teeth, feeling the familiar tingly feeling coursing through my body. I waded to the other side of the sewage and lifted myself onto the platform. I didn't get far. The spectre grabbed me by the wrist and I felt another charge of energy, but this one burned. I couldn't repress my screaming.

"Your friends don't care about you enough to come down here to help you?" She asked when I collapsed.

"They are a bit preoccupied trying to get rid of you," I told her, taking a deep breath and pulling away from her.

"They won't," she assured me.

I made a sort of grunting sound, swiftly kicking her legs out from under her and pushed her into the sewage. I stood up and focused on running through the sewer system to make my way toward the warehouse. If I got there, maybe Ulrich and Yumi could help me with this Spectre. I made it to the ladder I wanted just as the spectre caught up to me and grabbed my leg and I climbed up the ladder into the warehouse. She burned my ankle and I cried out. Determined to get into the warehouse I powered through and lifted myself into the warehouse and felt someone grab me under my arm pits and pull me into the warehouse.

"Emma, we have you," Yumi's voice soothed. "Ulrich is going to fight the spectre." She carried me on her back into the scanner/computer room and sat me down next to Aelita at the computer.

"He's going to lose the codes to X.A.N.A.," I told Aelita. "This is a disaster."

"What' worse is I don't know if he'll be able to get to the tower," Aelita stated. "On the bright side, Jeremie is doing really well."

"I wish we didn't need to wait twelve hours before going back in," Yumi grumbled. "It would be so much better…"

"Oh, this isn't good!" Aelita exclaimed. "Odd's losing too many life points."

"He can do it," I assured her. "Odd can do a lot with only 20 life points"

"Not this time," Aelita said as we witnessed Odd's devirtualization. I looked to see there had been ten of those monsters outnumbering him. Jeremie was nearby but had his own monsters to battle. Odd came out of one of the scanners, swearing his head off.

"What the fuck is this? There's never that much defense at a tower," Odd exclaimed, Stepping out of the scanner, blood dripping from several wounds.

Ulrich called Aelita then, Yumi sat Odd down on the ground and sat behind him. He took his shirt off and she started cleaning up and bandaging gashes.

"How are you, Ulrich?" Aelita asked.

"Just dandy," he stated drily. "How's that tower?"

"I'm going in now to deactivate it," I stated. I stood up and walked into a scanner, leaning on the back of it. Yumi, Odd, and Aelita looked at me with various expressions of frustration and anger.

"Emma's going to take care of it," Aelita told Ulrich and started my virtualization process. "Hang in there. I'll set up a return to the past and start it when Emma deactivates the tower."

I offered a reassuring grin to Odd as the scanner doors closed. I closed my eyes to shield them from the blinding light and opened them to find myself in Lyoko. I landed on the cold white-blue ground of the ice sector and called my Overmorph to me. I rocketed up, above the sector and scanned what I had to deal with. Twenty monsters in all, they were all flocking arounf Jeremie currently and didn't seem to realize I was there. I spotted the activated tower being guarded by a Scyphozoa and two megatanks.

"Geez, a welcoming party," I said. "How am I supposed to get to the tower without being caught by the Scyphozoa?"

"This is what X.A.N.A. wanted all along, he knew if he could devirtualize Odd and I you'd come on… You need to be careful, he wants you for some reason and we can't afford to find out what for," Aelita told me. "Odd, stop cursing, you've made your point!" She shouted at him.

I moved quietly behind a glacier and thought about my strategy. I peaked out to see hwo Jeremie was doing. He looked like he was managing but barely.

"Aelita, how many life points does Jeremie have?" I asked.

"He – oh," I saw him being devirtualized and gritted my teeth. "Sorry, Emma, you're on your own."

"I see that," I stated as the bird monsters all swarmed up to the skies to look for me. I knew I didn't have much time before I was spotted so I thought fast. I took my Overmorph and jetted off toward the tower, shooting at the Scyphozoa to devirtualize it first thing. A megatank opened its shell and fired a blast, moving to try hitting me. I dodged it and sent a laser bullet flying at its target, devirtualizing it.

"I am not putting up with your shit today!" I hollered at the monsters. I heard squawking behind me and saw most of the birds were swarming toward me. I shot at them and used my shield to deflect their razor sharp beaks and talons.

I backed up toward the tower, trying to reach it before my shield gave out but the final megatank sent out a wall of energy and devirtualized my Overmorph so my mobility was weakened. I stumbled on the ground and managed to avoid most of the new attacks from the monsters. I looked behind me to see the tower was literally two feet away from me. I sent a round of laser bullets flying at the avian foes and frantically got up and ran into the tower. I collapsed on the ground, panting. Despite the lack of the necessity to breath, I felt like I was suffocating.

"Emma, you're almost there!" Jeremie cheered. "You can do this!"

"Hurry!" Aelita encouraged. I stood up and walked to the center of the tower and lifted up to the second platform. I entered the code and promptly collapsed onto my knees.

"Jeremie, I can't breathe," I wheezed.

"Emma, I'm launching the return to the past now, hang in there!"

I waited and didn't feel a thing. I was still in the tower. "Jeremie?" I called. There was no answer. I went down to the main platform and rested in the center, restoring life points. I thought, maybe the returned worked there and they are all back in Kadic or something. Of course here in Lyoko I wouldn't know because time was an irrelevant concept here.

I decided to wait for Jeremie and the others to return to the warehouse to get answers.


	35. Almost Done

"Emma?" I heard Odd call frantically after what felt like a few hours. I stood up in the tower.

"Odd, I'm still in the tower. What happened?" I asked him.

"The return trip worked but it didn't bring you back like it usually would have," Jeremie answered, taking over the mic. "How are things there?"

"Quiet. I checked outside and all of the monsters are gone," I told him. "Why didn't I come back?" I asked him.

"Stay in the center of the tower, I'll scan you. I'm sending Ulrich in," Jeremie told me.

"Jeremie, I've been here so long… could X.A.N.A. have stolen back his codes in this time?" I asked him.

"I'm afraid it's possible. I'm checking to see the power level of the virus now," he told me.

Ulrich entered the tower a minute or so later and watched as Jeremie scanned me. I touched back down on the platform and he approached me.

"How did your fight go with the spectre me?" I asked him.

"She was tough, it was basically the same as fighting the real you," he told me.

"Guess I'm a tough opponent. So why is it so easy for X.A.N.A. to outsmart me?" I asked incredulously.

"It's not you, it's the system; the rematerialization is buggy. It looks like you could come back if you devirtualize each other," Jeremie told Ulrich and I.

Ulrich drew one of his sabers and I pressed my hand into his arm. "One, two, three!" I counted and we both attacked. I found myself in the scanner room a moment later. "Jeremie, please tell me we're almost done with this," I asked him as I stepped into the room. I dropped down to the floor and sat Indian style on the ground. Odd came and sat in front of me, sitting the same way, touching his knees to mine.

"Emma, my multi-agent program is almost done, I found two other locations where X.A.N.A. is still infecting computers, and we should be able to take the virus out as soon as we destroy the two replikas."

"Emma, what percentage are you at?" Aelita asked me.

I looked, "I'm at 20%, Jeremie, we're not doing very well keeping X.A.N.A. down."

"I still have 2%, Aelita's out, and you have 20%. So… we have 22% of the codes and X.A.N.A. has 78% of his power," Odd stated. "We're doomed."

Well next weekend we'll set out the anti-virus. In the mean time we'll take out those replikas," Jeremie stated. "Hopefully we won't need to send you two in," Jeremie said, crossing his fingers. "Let's just go try to take our minds off of this situation and focus on school. I will announce when we can go in for the first replika."

Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and I went back to Kadic. Ulrich called Yumi to let her know how things were going. I unpacked again and spent the remainder of the day in my dorm room relaxing with Aelita.

"Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich are having a three way man date. Yumi's helping her brother with something, so why don't we do something?" Aelita asked me at around 6 P.M..

I looked at her curiously and asked, "What are you thinking?"

"Want to go to the art building and work on a song together?" Aelita asked me. "I want to put some original samples in my mix for the party next weekend and you can help me."

"What do you want to sample from me?" I asked her.

"What songs are you listening to right now?" she asked me.

"Um…" I thought about that. "There is a song I learned on the internet in my free time in America. It's called Titanium. I forget who sings it originally."

"I think that's David Guetta ft. Sia. You need a partner for that."

"Should I pull Odd out of his three way?" I asked her.

"We can find someone else in the art building, probably," she told me. "I think we should let them do their thing for tonight."

She and I walked over to the art department and set up a mic and a soundboard.

"Should I have background music?" I asked her.

"Nope. I guess I was wrong, too; No one else is here. Just go solo," she told me and I did so.

When I finished she was satisfied. "Any other songs?" She asked eagerly. "I think I can make a cool remix. Of course I'll mix a beat and all that jazz later."

I did a few more songs and then declared defeat. "I don't know that many songs! Unless you want me to start spewing out Russian. I'm pretty sure people aren't going to want to hear that though."

"It would be interesting, though," I heard from the door. Odd was standing there with Jeremie.

"Please tell me there's not a X.A.N.A. attack," I pleaded.

"There's not a X.A.N.A. attack," Odd repeated, mimicking my voice.

"What a dork," I teased. "So how was your man date?" I asked him.

"It was fabulous," he said, mocking flamboyance.

"Don't do that, you're worrying me," I told him and he rolled his eyes.

"As if, you done here?" he asked, taking my hand.

"We are unless you want to add any more samples for me to play with for the party next weekend," Aelita told him. "I have a lot of generic songs people will like, old stuff, new stuff, Emma gave me her voice, and I'm trying to figure out how to mix that."

"If you get stuck let me see what I can do," Odd suggested to her. "It sounds like you're handling it."

"Sorry to interrupt," Jeremie cut in. "But we can go in and destroy the first replika tomorrow. Who's in?"

"Sounds good, Jeremie," Aelita announced. "Tomorrow before dinner? We have exams after lunch so we can't skip those classes."

"Ask Yumi and Ulrich. Emma and I can't help in Lyoko anyway, right?" Odd asked. "Unless it's not a big deal that X.A.N.A. gets 2% more of his power, then I'm in!"

"It matters. We are keeping you two off Lyoko indefinitely," Jeremie told us.

"Fine with me, Lyoko sucks now. It used to be fun, now it just hurts," I replied. "Anyway, I'm exhausted –."

"What else is new?" Odd interrupted.

"So I'm going to bed. You know how to reach me if something happens," I finished and pecked Odd on the cheek. I went back to my room and thought about Lyoko. I recalled the first few times I went and actually had fun fighting monsters and helping Aelita deactivate the towers. Now it just seemed like I was being scanned into a suicide mission whenever I went there. Plus whenever I return to the real world after being devirtualized I feel like death because of those new monsters whose attacks transcend worlds.

"I'm strong enough, I can stick this out until the end," I assured myself before falling asleep.


	36. 12 Hours

The week went by slowly, Monday night Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich went through the network to destroy the first of the last few replikas and it actually went off without Odd or I having to go in. Tuesday Yumi, Aelita, and I went thrift shopping and we all had a break from Lyoko. Wednesday there was a X.A.N.A. attack/destroying replika combo deal where I was made into a human target for X.A.N.A.-fied Jim and subordinate X.A.N.A.-fied gym class. Odd ended up going into Lyoko and losing his 2% but since we got rid of a replika, it sort of balanced out. Thursday was the least eventful day of the week, and then Friday was our final Replika destroying mission before the big destruction of X.A.N.A.. I spent most of the night sitting around talking with Odd and Aelita while Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie went in to the replika.

"So do you two have all of your music planned for tomorrow?" I asked Odd and Aelita while playing a board game with Aelita. Odd was monitoring the mission..

"Yep, we've planned the whole night out; it is going to be great!" Odd said.

"Odd has some freaky samples we're going to try since it's a Halloween party. Emma, do you have a costume yet?" she asked me.

"I'm going to try making it tonight or buying one if I can't figure out how to make something. Aelita, can you help me?" I asked her.

"What are you going to be?" Odd asked, curious.

"It's a surprise," I told him.

"No fair! Aelita gets to see it…" Odd protested.

"She's not you, now is she?" I asked.

"No one comes close to being remotely like Odd," Aelita told me and I giggled.

"That's why I love him, he's one of a kind," I explained to her. "Your move," I told her, looking down at the game board.

"Hey, wait," odd said suddenly. "Jeremie, watch it, there's some monsters on the screen heading your way! Protect the skid!"

"How are Yumi and Ulrich doing on the replika?" Jeremie asked him.

"They found the computer but it's guarded. They are working on it," Odd replied. Aelita and I abandoned the game to see what was going on.

"Looks like Ulrich could take out the guards pretty easily, why isn't he?" I asked.

"There's a force field and they can't get past it," Odd replied. "Yumi is trying to find the power source to deactivate it and Ulrich is distracting the incoming guards. If their teleportation stops before they can kill the computer…"

"They can do this," Aelita assured. I could feel her tense body growing tenser. She needed the reassurance more than Odd and I did.

"Found it! Ulrich, do your thing!" Yumi hollered and Ulrich lashed out against the guards and then took out the super computer in a few swift blows. Odd went to work bringing the two back to Jeremie, and Jeremie drove the Skid back to Lyoko.

"Guys, we did it!" I cheered as oddrematerialized Jeremie and Yumi. "We can kill X.A.N.A. now, can't we?"

"We can try. I'm staying up tonight to make the preparations and I'll launch it tomorrow morning. I'll just need Aelita and an escort," Jeremie said when he walked out of the scanner.

"I volunteer," Odd said eagerly.

"Hopefully he doesn't try any bullshit before you're able to finish the setup." I crossed my fingers. "Anyway, you don't need Aelita now, right? I need her tonight to help me with my costume."

"Go crazy. I'll call you if anything comes up," Jeremie told me, taking over the computer. "Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi, you guys can all go too if you want."

"I'm going to work on my costume," Odd announced and took off for the basement of the warehouse.

"Why does he like taking the sewers so much?" Yumi wondered. "I much prefer the fresh hair route. Emma, Aelita, I'll come with you."

The three of us left the warehouse, leaving Ulrich behind with Jeremie. We walked toward the shopping district of the city and Yumi bought the three of us coffee for our expedition.

"So what's your costume idea?" Aelita asked me. "It must be great if you want to surprise Odd with it."

"I actually have no idea. I was thinking of recreating my Lyoko outfit but I wouldn't have time to do that now since the dance it tomorrow night," I told the girls. "Got any ideas?"

"I know Odd is being some character from an anime," Aelita told me.

"Yeah, he's being Kyo from fruits basket. He thought it would be funny because Kyo's a cat just like his Lyoko form," I explained. "No one else at the dance will make that connection, obviously but it is kind of funny."

"You should be Tohru!" Yumi exclaimed. "We could get you a wig and set you up with the pieces for one of her outfits."

"Personally I like the school uniform, it's cute," Aelita piped up.

I grinned and nearly squealed with eccitement at that idea. "Oh my gosh! That would be so amazing, you think I'd make a good Tohru though?" I asked her.

"Tohru's pretty easy. I've seen you mimicking Tohru a lot before," Yumi assured me. "Let's go! There's a few stores right by each other that will have everything we need. We'll get the Tohru pieces and just find a mask that will match."

The three of us picked out a few different sets of clothes for my costume and then we focused on Aelita's costume. She wanted to be a cyber-angel… like her Lyoko form. It took us a while but we found white wings that matched her and neon pink spray paint for them. We found a basic pink leotard and tights and then found a see through rubber skirt that looked pretty close to the one she wore on Lyoko.

"Why did Jeremie design it to be see-through?" I wondered.

"I think it was just the way it came out. I'm not sure if he had any control over it," Aelita told me.

"Still, it looks better the way it is, I'd say," Yumi stated. She found a bracelet that matched the one Aelita had and tossed it into our basket. "I think we're about done. You girls want to go to dinner after we're done here?" She asked us. "We can add the detail to Aelita's costume later when we do the wings."

"That sounds like a great idea," Aelita answered, sifting through the basket of supplies. "Yumi are you sure you don't want us to sneak you in? To be honest I don't think Jim will mind if you're there anyway."

"I'm sure. I'm glad me and Ulrich are finally getting a chance to go on a real date just the two of us," she said with an abashed smile.

"It's about freaking time," I told her.

Aelita paid for her things and the three of us went to dinner at a nearby restaurant. It was a hole-in-the-wall small place that Yumi recommended. We went back to Kadic and sprayed Aelita's wings and added all of the other detail she needed for her costume. We went to our room and we both tried everything on. Yumi helped perfect everything. By the time we were done we were all satisfied with what we had.

A knock at the door made me jump and I hid behind Aelita, knowing who it probably was.

"Aelita, Emma!" Jeremie's voice called. "Girls, it's X.A.N.A. he's attacking."

Yumi opened the door and there stood Ulrich and Jeremie, panting. "There's a spectre of Mr. Chardin going after Odd. It hasn't been 12 hours yet so…"


	37. Final Plans

"How could X.A.N.A. be attacking already?" I asked. "Oh man, someone go help Odd and Aelita and I will go deactivate the tower. Yumi can take the computer controls while Aelita and I go in," I instructed, pulling my wig off. Jeremie and Ulrich nodded sullenly.

"This really blows. Be careful," Ulrich told us as they took off. Aelita and I pulled off our costumes and set them on our beds. We changed back into real clothes and ran alongside Yumi to the warehouse.

"X.A.N.A. knows times almost up for him so he's not giving up without a fight," Yumi stated as she took the computer controls. "Let me see… the tower is in X.A.N.A.'s sector and it's being guarded by a flock of 10. Aelita, do you think you could go in first and thin everything out before Emma goes in? That way maybe she doesn't lose so many codes."

Aelita nodded, going into Lyoko and activating her wings right off. She spiraled up into the bird monster. She was engulfed by the birds and for a few seconds I felt my heart stop. "What is she doing?" I hissed at Yumi. "She's going to get devirtualized before she can do any damage!"

A pulse of pink energy erupted on the screen and I could see at least six of the creatures exploding. Aelita swooped down to the ground. I sighed on relief. "You don't have much faith in me, Emma. Relax," Aelita said. "I think I might actually be able to deactivate the tower without you. Yumi?"

"You have ten life points. Sure that was great, but it was still kind of stupid of you. Be careful," Yumi answered.

A moment later a new set of monsters joined the four remaining birds. Eight Kankralats. Aelita yelped at the sight of them just as one of the kankralats fired at her and devirtualized her. She returned to the scanner.

"Emma, your turn…" Yumi sighed, sounding defeated. "X.A.N.A. is determined. Go see what you can do."

I got into the scanner as Yumi set up the virtualization and helped Aelita out of the other scanner and set her up against a wall. She had some superficial cuts but no real damage from the birds. I hoped to get out of this mission with the same or less; I didn't think Tohru would look good with a bunch of gauges on her arms and legs.

When I landed in Lyoko I could feel it in the air; X.A.N.A. wasn't going to give up without a fight. I knew if X.A.N.A. got the last few points from me… it would be all over. I knew it would mean he'd be able to branch out again and make stronger, more lethal attacks. I called the Overmorph and prepared for my solo-battle.

First thing I saw were the kankrelats. They seemed as focused as ever. Instead of doing what I anticipated, three of the kankrelats stacked on top of each other and fired at me.

"Shield," I called and deflected the attack. I fired at them in a fruitless attempt at getting rid of the little buggers.

I felt something digging into my back and I cried out, turning to see a bird had its talons latched onto me. I tried shaking it off, shooting bullets at it but it just squawked in my ear, lifting me off the ground. I tried getting free by other means, kicking, trying to turn the tables on the beast. Nothing worked and I found myself being taken to another side of the sector, nowhere near where the tower was.

"Yumi, I think I have a massive problem," I announced as I spotted the Scyphozoa on the ground in front of me. I was dropped in front of the beast and before I could even lift an arm it had its tentacles wrapped around me, trapping me.

I felt the connection being made and went limp in its grasp. I couldn't fight it no matter how much I wanted to.

"Laser arrow!" I heard from behind me. I was dropped on the ground with a thud and the color purple filled my vision above me.

"My hero," I breathed and stood up. He pulled me onto the overboard with him and I held onto him. He took off full speed back toward the tower and basically threw me inside so I could deactivate it. When I was done one of the others brought us back to Earth.

I stepped out of the scanner, feeling pain in my back and shoulders. When Yumi checked it, I had gauges from when the bird carried me to the Scyphozoa. I checked the codes and found I only had 5% of the codes left. X.A.N.A. had 95% of his power back and I knew this could only mean trouble.

"And we can't go about running the anti-virus until Aelita can go back in. So how we have an almost fully powered X.A.N.A. to deal with, and we can't counter it for another 12 hours from now," Jeremie said apathetically.

"Let's pray he has creator's block and can't think of any attacks right now then," Odd hoped, crossing his fingers.

"The only reason for that attack was to get the codes… If Odd hadn't swooped in, X.A.N.A. would be at his full power," I said glaring at the ground. "Jeremie, I don't know if we should go to that party, any of us. I think we should all stay here and help out with the antivirus. The more of us are here, the smoother it will go, right?"

"I don't know about that. It's impossible to guess X.A.N.A.'s next move. It's possible it will attack the school. Someone should be there to protect the school if that happens. It could just as easily attack the warehouse or the city. I think we should split up tomorrow and keep an eye on everything, and then whenever I figure out what's going on, I'll round everyone up," Jeremie suggested.

"So Yumi and I should go ahead and to into the city tomorrow, someone will monitor the school, and someone will stay in the warehouse?" Ulrich asked.

"I think I should stay in the warehouse just in case I need to get to Lyoko fast… Emma, do you want to take over DJing the dance?" Aelita asked me.

"She asks the person who's never DJed in her life. Sure, though. Odd and I can stay at school, Yumi and Ulrich will go into the city, and then Jeremie and Aelita will stay in the warehouse," I planned. "What could go wrong?"

"We could all fuck up and doom the entire world?" Odd said. "I really think we ought to get some more people in on this mission just in case."

"Odd, the only person I can think of who could have and… maybe would have helped us is Sissi and she's who knows where," I countered. "We don't need anyone else. We can handle this, we've pulled off tricky missions before. "

"So we all know what we're going to do… Everyone go get some rest. I will sleep here tonight and get everything set up. We'll stay in contact," Jeremie told us and turned to his computer,, done talking to us. I led the way out of the warehouse.

"I'm so glad we're about to end this," Ulrich said after a few minutes, breaking the silence.

"End this _again_," I snapped. "Who's to say we won't just get roped back into this after a while?" I asked him. I don't know about you guys but I don't think I'll ever stop worrying about X.A.N.A. coming back."

"That's what I thought after he escaped onto the net. The internet is forever, right? So he'll be," Odd agreed with me. "We need to hope though; it's all we have at this point. I'm just sorry we dragged you into it."

"Anyway, we should all get some good sleep," I stated. "We have a big day tomorrow, all of us."

"Don't worry about DJing tomorrow, I have a lot lined up if you end up being a total lame-o at it," Odd assured me and laughed.

"Watch, she's going to be better than you," Yumi speculated.

"I plan to do what we're supposed to do and keep and eye on things," I announced. "Odd can DJ, I'll be the watch dog."


	38. You Don't Want to Know

"You're wearing your costume to the warehouse?" I asked Aelita the next day.

"I bought the costume, I want to get some use out of it," she told me. "Your costume is versatile; you could wear that to classes if you wanted to. Mine isn't so easy."

"Well you could wear bits and pieces normally," I pointed out. "Anyway, we'll be in touch. Odd and I need to go to the Gym to help set things up so I'll see you later. Let me know what happens via text. Bye!"

I took off, fully costumed. I ignored any glances I got and went to the gym. Odd was already there setting up the sound board. I smirked at the orange hair. I snuck up behind him and gave him a hug from behind.

"Now you need to turn into a cat," I told him. He twisted around and gave me a big grin. He wore an orange mask to match the hair while I had on a white one to match the costume. Also the white mask was the most inexpensive one in the store.

"Meow," he said and gave me a kiss.

"Alright, you two! I won't have you doing that all night," Jim hollered at us, waving a tangled bunch of halloween lights. "Emma, come help me with these lights, they're like snakes, these things…"

"Yes sir, Mr. Jim, sir," I said and hopped off the booth. Odd went back to working on the sound board and I went to detangle the lights so Jim could hang them. I helped someone else with tinsel and then sat on the DJ booth as kids started pouring in.

"Watch out for anyone touching the power box," Odd told me. "It seems that would be the easiest way to attack us if someone were to become X.A.N.A.-fied."

I nodded, "I'll keep everything under surveillance. You'll handle the music?" I asked.

"We'll take turns because Jim told me he wants to hear some variations. Come up and I'll show you how to do this."

I half observed Odd and half watched the dance unfold. When it was my turn to DJ, I was a bit shaky, but good enough for the students. Half the dance passed and I didn't hear anything from the others. I spotted Jim in the corner. He was glaring up at Odd and I and inching his way over to the power box. I nudged Odd's elbow and whispered my suspicion. He nodded.

"Get out of here and go to the warehouse now. Even if you're wrong, it might be a good idea to go see how things are going. I'll join up in a bit."

I nodded and jumped off the platform. I made it to the door before I felt someone grab my hand. I spun, expecting to see an attacker, but only saw Milly and Tamiya, camera rolling.

"Emma! You and Odd sound great tonight!" Milly gushed. She faced the camera. "Emma Kozlov, one of the DJs for this belated Halloween party, is dressed as…" She looked back at me, waiting for me to finish her statement.

"Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket," I said with a smile. "And Odd is dressed as Kyo Sohma, also from Fruits Basket."

"Are they in a relationship in the anime, or what?" Tamiya asked.

"The Anime didn't last long enough for them to be. In the manga they are. Now, if you excuse me, girls… I need to go take care of something," I told them and made my escape before they could protest.

I went down to the warehouse and found Jeremie and Aelita were both on Lyoko. I picked up the earpiece and pulled my wig off, pulling a few pins out roughly. I rubbed my scalp and checked the status on Lyoko. Jeremie seemed to have lost half of his life points. Aelita was about twenty points down.

"Hey, Jeremie, Aelita? How are you doing?" I asked.

"Oh, Emma, we were hoping you wouldn't come in," Jeremie told me, surprised. "We have a handle on things. We're gathering data from a few different towers. The fifth sector and ice sector are all set. We're heading off to X.A.N.A.'s sector now to finish the job."

"I'm calling the others. You should have told us before you two went in," I scolded him. I called Ulrich on the computer and texted Odd.

"Hey, what's up?" Ulrich answered. I filled him in and he had the same reaction I did. "We're on our way," he told me. He started explaining things to Yumi as he hung up. Odd texted me back a moment later and my focus returned to Lyoko. My eyes couldn't process the danger on the screen for a moment when I took a look at X.A.N.A.'s sector.

"Jeremie, Aelita, stay in the tower. You don't want to know what's out there," I told them, panic mode activated.


	39. Doomed

Odd arrived first and witnessed my attempt at composure. "That Kolossus," I was sputtering. "It's there! And there's a fucking wall of birds, X.A.N.A. refuses to give up without a fight. I'm not sure if we'll be able to do this."

"Send me in," Odd told me immediately. I nodded and started the procedure. Before I finished it I jumped up and gave him a long kiss within the scanner.

"Be careful," I told him. "For once," I pleaded.

"I'm always careful," he assured me with a goofy grin and I gave him a last kiss before getting out of the scanner and finishing the virtualization. Ulrich and Yumi arrived a moment later and I sent them through, telling them to be careful as well. The only difference between them and Odd was that I knew they would be.

I'd virtualized Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi by the way tower that Jeremie and Aelita were in, and when the five of them were together, they started strategizing.

"She says there are a lot of birds and a Kolossus," Ulrich stated. "Who wants to fight what?"

"I get the Kolossus this time," Odd announced. "You got to have all the fun last time," he told Ulrich.

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun," Ulrich said sarcastically. "Have at it, just remember if you're reckless and that Kolossus doesn't kill you, Emma will."

"Very true," I warmed Odd. "I ran a scan… didn't know I could do that, but I found out that the monster has five points of weakness. You'll need to try hitting all of them. It looks a bit more agile than the last one. Be careful!" I commanded as he zipped out on my Overmorph. Of course it emulated the Overboard, but it was faster so he liked to use it more.

"I guess the three of us will take care of the bird wall," Yumi stated. "I'll move first, Jeremie, Ulrich, give me backup. Aelita, stay here until we can thin the wall a bit and then try making a run, or fly, to the tower you need. If we need to we can bring Emma in to escort you. Now, everyone, let's go!"

I watched as the four of my friends went out and fought with the Kolossus and bird monster defenses. Odd was fighting the Kolossus head to head and managed to take out three targets before it managed to take out the Overmorph. Odd clung onto the beast and climbed his way to the next target, slowly but surely. Ulrich, Jeremie, and Yumi were taking on the birds.

Jeremie was sending his arrows flying at target after target. By a stroke of bad footing, he nearly fell into the digital sea before Odd sent a laser arrow at him to devirtualize him just in time. Before Jeremie even came in, I had the first aid kit ready to mend his wounds. When he was cleaned up, he took over the computer. The first thing he did was reload Odd's arrows.

Yumi seemed to be having the most luck with the birds. Her metal fans allowed her ample opportunity to strike down several monsters at once. Ulrich was doing pretty well also, but since his weapon was close ranged, his attacks weren't as effective as Yumi's. Odd finally managed to slow down the Kolossus but he was having nearly no luck getting to the last target to get rid of it.

"Jeremie, is it safe yet?" Aelita asked from the tower. She was the only one blind to the action and I could hear she was frustrated.

He looked as though he was going to refuse her. I cleared my throat. "it looks like the bird wall is thinned out," I told him. "I think I can get Aelita through to the tower."

"You have your shields, activate them both to protect yourselves and you go in with her. Those things can enter the towers in X.A.N.A.'s sector and she'll be in danger while she's doing her stuff… once she enters the codes, then the virus will start to spread and I'll bring you out," Jeremie told me and I nodded, already standing in the scanner. I closed my eyes and found myself in the ice sector outside of the tower. I walked toward the tower, focusing on the task at hand when I heard a ghastly sound behind me. I turned to see the last thing I wanted to.

"You don't need me anymore. Go away," I yelled at the Scyphozoa, shooting at its tentacles. Instead of backing off like I hoped it would, it picked me up with its strong grip and made the connection. It released me a moment later.

"Emma?" Jeremie hollered anxiously. "Emma?!"

"It's all good, Jeremie," I told him, X.A.N.A.'s presence filling my head. I walked into the tower and fell through to find Aelita on the other side. I smiled and called the Overmorph. "You ready, Princess?" I asked her.

She looked at me hesitantly but then got on with me. I activated my shield and she did the same with hers. I burst out of the tower and flew up high above the action. I hovered for a moment, watching the battle.

"Emma, come on! We should get to the tower quickly!" Aelita rushed me and I looked back at her, irritated.

"Don't you think I'm doing what I'm supposed to? I'm just checking things out," I told her and found the perfect spot. I flew over a bunch of birds, kind of far off from the others. I looked back at Aelita and swept my feet under hers, pushing her off the Overmorph into the sea of birds. She was devirtualized instantly.

"Emma!" Yumi shouted, surprised. The boys both stopped what they were doing to look up at me,

"Guys, the Scyphozoa got her when she was virtualized. She's listening to X.A.N.A.'s command. Devirtualize her before she does any more damage!" Jeremie commanded them and I veered off away from them.

"Got it, Jeremie," Ulrich assured. "Yumi, Odd, stay and get rid of the monsters. I'll devirtualize Emma."

"Like you could, I beat you every time we fight now," I yelled back at Ulrich. I looked back at him and saw he was already on his bike pursuing me.

"I'll beat you this time, this time you're being possessed by a cowardly computer program that needs to set us against each other to win," Ulrich retorted. "He might be controlling you right now, but he doesn't know how to use your strength, I'm sure of that!"

I turned around on my vehicle and fired laser bullets at him. He deflected every shot without breaking a sweat. I grumbled and continued on. I knew if I went down to the ground he would have the advantage. I was safest in the air. I just needed to give the other monsters time enough to devirtualize Yumi and Odd.

I flew on for a few minutes before I felt something hit my Overmorph. Before I knew it, I was falling out of the sky. I looked down to see Ulrich had thrown one of his katanas at me. Now he had the other one aimed right for me. I knew it was now or never.

"Laser bullets!" I said and fired ten consecutive shots at Ulrich just as his katana hit me. I watched him devirtualize and felt the strange pressure leave my head a I pixelated. Ulrich and I stepped out of scanners then and I fell to the ground instantly. I punched the floor with what strength I had.

"Oh fuck me, I'm so sorry," I cried. "We're doomed now and it's my fault."

"We're going to do this," Jeremie assured me. "But just to ask… do you feel weird at all in your head?"

I shook my head," I feel dirty, used, disgusting, vile…" I explained.

"But not evil?" Aelita asked.

I looked up at her. "I don't feel X.A.N.A.'s presence," I told her.

"Just to clear this up," Ulrich cut in, kneeling down next to me. "If you had been yourself, you would have known that trick and I wouldn't have been able to beat you. X.A.N.A. keeps underestimating us." He picked me up and carried me into the other room. We leaned on the wall and I cleaned his cuts up and he made sure I was okay. I laid down on the makeshift bed and he went back into the other room.


	40. Liberation

Apparently I fell asleep because I felt someone nudging me awake what felt like a second later. Odd was looking down at me smiling.

"That's strange," I mumbled. "You're smiling even though X.A.N.A.'s about to take over the world?"

"X.A.N.A. is gone," he corrected me. "As it turned out, Yumi and I were able to enter the codes. Jeremie explained it all to us as we did it… of course we didn't devirtualize all those monsters before we did it but we managed it anyway… Yumi's pretty bad off. You mind sharing the bed?"

I shot up and looked at Yumi, cradled in Ulrich's arms. She had a bunch of massive cuts all over her body. The worst of it was in her neck. I scrambled off the bed and then looked at Odd, he wasn't much prettier. The only real difference was that he was conscious. I grabbed some first aid material and pulled his shirt off. I cleaned him up as he regaled me with the details.

"Your costume is all bloody," I said sadly, holding up his black shirt and hooded sweatshirt. His pants were pretty bad too but most of the damage was in his torso.

"Well, Kyo does have a temper," Odd reasoned. "He got into a massive fight with Black Haru because Haru said something perverse?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, showing off his balls to prove his hair color is natural…"

"You're not supposed to know that," Odd scolded me. "Tohru is innocent, remember?"

"Anyway, how did you get away from the dance so quickly before?" I asked him.

"I told Jim the sound board was busted and just turned on a mix tape. Jim probably knows I was lying by now," Odd admitted. "I would have been faster but Milly and Tamiya stopped me."

"to get a super scoop on our relationship and costumes?" I asked him.

"We should get back," he stated. "You okay to fake vitality for a few more hours?" he asked.

I stood up, held out my hand. "Let's go. Ulrich will you text me when she wakes up? Odd and I will come back when we can."

Odd and I found some replacement clothes and stuffed our bloody ones in a laundry bag. The two of us checked with Jeremie and Aelita and then went back to Kadic via the sewer. When we turned up at the dance we saw Jim was trying to DJ and the remaining kids looked horrified.

"Can't believe you two bailed and left us here to deal with him," Nicholas scolded when he spotted us. Herve just glared his disdain.

"Sorry, sorry," I appeased. "I'll go fix this right away."

I got up onto the sound booth and Jim unwillingly gave up his position. I changed the active music selection and started mixing things the way the kids wanted. Odd sat in front of the booth watching everyone.

"Am I doing okay?" I asked him.

"Super nuclear." He gave me a thumbs up and I smirked at the inside joke.

The last of the students finally left and I turned the board off and watched as some audio visual volunteers took it back into storage. Jim was tearing lights down and I showed him how to roll them up so they wouldn't tangle so badly. When we were done Odd and I returned to the factory where Yumi was just barely conscious. She was lying at Ulrich's side and he was stroking her hair and holding her.

"It's done!" Jeremie said happily. "I've done ten scans of the network and Lyoko. There isn't any trace of X.A.N.A., none at all!"

"Better hope so," Ulrich stated. "That better have been our last battle because I think we're all about ready to retire."

"I know I am and I haven't even been fighting in Lyoko as long as you guys have," Jeremie admitted. "I want to carry out some final analysis… then we'll shut everything down."

"I'm glad," I said with a content sigh. "It will be nice to get back to sleeping regularly and actually focusing on classes. I have a B that I need to bring up in Italian and that's embarrassing."

"Yeah, what's wrong with you?" Odd asked, feigning shocked horror. "Jeremie's the one who's lame at Italian. You're supposed to be genius at everything, Volta!"

"Volta?" Jeremie asked, confused. "The physicist?"

"Odd, I don't think that nickname will stick. It would be like if I started calling you Neko, you might be a cat-like person, but you're not actually a cat."

"So you're saying you're not a genius?" Odd challenged me.

"I guess. Can we get this show on the road, now? Jeremie?" I asked hopefully.

"The last scan is done… No X.A.N.A. anywhere. Can you give Marian a call and make sure she's clear?" Jeremie asked me. "Be subtle, of course."

I pulled my phone out and checked the time. It would probably be fine to call; it was the middle of the day there. I dialed Marian and left the room to speak with her. When I returned I gave Jeremie the okay and he hopped out of his seat and we followed a trail of cords and wires to our power source. He shut everything down and gave us permission to trash the computer if we wanted to. He kept a few parts like the keyboard, mouse, and other superficial parts, but we got to destroy everything else. Everyone except for Yumi participated; she just watched and snacked on a granola bar. I could tell she was still hurting a lot.

"Senseless distruction is the best kind of distruction," Odd said enthusiastically when the damage was finished. He high fived Ulrich who seemed as happy as he was.

"Now… I know this might be drastic but it's necessary for closure. Besides, this building is super old," Yumi finally spoke up once we crawled into the sewer. "Does anyone have anything valuable in there still?" she asked us. A unanimous no since we were all carrying boxes full of the left over supplies and computer parts. She pulled out a lighter and climbed back into the warehouse. I looked up the hole to see she was standing, holding a loose wooden plank. "Anyone object?" she asked. "I've already made sure that the fire can't spread to hurt anyone in the area." Nobody protested and a moment later I smelled smoke. I saw the room above us blacken and we all stood there, out of the way of any possible debris and listened as the flames crackled and popped. A crashing noise indicated the infrastructure was giving in. The walls? The ceiling? It didn't matter.

"Now I just feel bad for the environment," Odd stated mournfully.

"The warehouse has fallen," Ulrich said in a dark tone, trying to lighten the mood. Yumi was the only one to really find that funny.

"It does feel liberating though," Aelita said. "Besides, the city wanted this building to be destroyed anyway. We just saved them the trouble of paying to get the building demolition team out here. They'll think it was the dry wood and heat that did it. It was such an old building. We saved anyone from going in sometime in the future and hurting themselves, we did the city a service and that's that."

"It's not warm outside anymore but I'm sure that won't stop them from jumping to that conclusion," Jeremie agreed.

We went back to Kadic, dropped off the supplies in Jeremie's room, and listened to a breaking news report about the fire. Of course we were right, they didn't suspect arson, and guessed it was just old dry wood dancing with the heat.

"They really are lazy," Jeremie speculated. "If they really wanted to, they could figure it out what really happened."

"There was something strange, however, firefighters discovered parts of a destroyed computer inside one of the rooms. Also, a burnt cot was nearby. This leads us to believe someone had been living in this building. It's hard to say whether or not we'll ever really know the origin of the fire. For now, we're all just relieved that nobody was hurt."

"Does she look familiar?" Ulrich wondered. "That anchor woman, she looks like…"

"That's Sissi's mother," Herve said, he and Nicholas were standing outside the door. "She's a TV personality and Sissi is interning while she goes to school closer to her mom. That was the compromise they came up with when she moved in with her." The boys continued walking by, on the way to their room or wherever they went. It always bugged me when they showed up. Without Sissi around their true annoying nature doubled. Specifically Herve's, Nicholas was just dumb.

"That would explain why she always wanted to get into performing," Yumi stated. "Anyway, I should get home."

"I'll walk you," Ulrich offered and stood up. "You got pretty beat up earlier, I want to make sure you're okay."

The two of them left and I stood up, "I need a shower. I feel gross. I'll see you guys later."


	41. Pretty Amazing

Ulrich walked with Yumi in silence for a few minutes until they left Kadic's campus. "I'm sorry our date was cut short," he stated, trying to spark a conversation.

"We knew it would be," Yumi pointed out. "I am bummed though. Maybe now we'll be able to go on a real date without worrying about interruptions?" she wondered.

"You can count I'll be here to do whatever you want, no matter how often our dates are cut short," Ulrich told her. "Oh, that sounds so stupid… I mean –."

"I know what you mean," Yumi told him and he blushed. "Thank you, for being so patient with me. I know I was stubborn at first."

"We both were," Ulrich pointed out. "I think once Sissi finally stopped trying to mess us up, things got easier."

"That's true. Want to come in? I promise Hiroki isn't home," Yumi assured as she opened the gate in front of her house.

"Where is he? Johnny's house?" Ulrich guessed.

"Every Saturday to play the latest game," Yumi confirmed. The two of them entered her house and sat down together on a chair. They spent the night talking, kissing, watching movies, and taking care of each other of one of their wounds hurt. The night progressed and eventually the two of them fell asleep on the couch, snuggling peacefully.

Emma and Odd went into Emma's room to relax. Odd was sleeping quietly while Emma skimmed through old photos and videos from the past year. She texted Aelita to see how she was and got a response that announced she and Jeremie were in the Hermitage looking through old things as well. Emma text Ulrich and he told her he and Yumi were both just relaxing and reminiscing about all of the Lyoko stuff. Emma got an idea and opened her media editing software that she'd gotten from Mr. Chardin.

Odd woke up a few hours later and saw Emma was nearly passed out on her laptop. He sat up next to her and nudged her, looking down at what she was doing. She was editing a video of all of them. He smiled and took the laptop from her, saving her work and putting it down next to her bed. He wrapped his arms around his beloved and pulled her down to rest with him. She fell asleep instantly. He checked in with Ulrich and Jeremie via text messages. Ulrich was still at Yumi's and Jeremie was in his room. Odd looked over to see Aelita was asleep in her bed. He set his phone down and went back to sleep with Emma beside him.

In the morning Aelita woke up to see Odd was still sleeping in Emma's bed, but Emma was up working on her project still.

"Did you sleep at all?" Aelita asked her friend quietly.

"Odd made me go to sleep around 3 in the morning. I woke up about an hour ago and couldn't fall back to sleep," Emma explained. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I feel great," Aelita stated. "Some real sleep, it's what I needed. How are you?"

"The same," Emma answered.

"You two are nuts, what time is it?" Odd asked groggily.

"It's breakfast time," Aelita told him. "Sorry for the disturbance. I guess I'll just go eat your portion."

"Don't you dare, Princess," Odd said, more alert now. Emma giggled.

"My boyfriend is a stomach," she said. "Odd, why don't you go change and I'll meet you down there in ten minutes?"

Odd nodded and pecked her on the cheek before strolling out of the dorm. When he was gone Aelita and Emma changed and went to the bathroom to wash up before going down to the cafeteria. Emma brought her laptop so she could work on her video.

Yumi woke up feeling sore and beaten but she didn't care much. She looked next to her to see Ulrich was still sleeping there. She looked at the clock and felt panic rise inside her. She nudged Ulrich awake.

"My father is going to be up any minute now. I'm sorry to kick you out but if he sees you…" Yumi said urgently, knowing she didn't need to finish the sentence for him to understand the consequences. He nodded groggily and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Yumi could see him blush slightly before he got off the couch and snuck out the front door. She watched out the window as he ran down the steps and out the front gate. She sighed in relief and went upstairs to go back to sleep in her room.

Jeremie woke up, alert as always. He went to his computer out of habit to check Lyoko and then it dawned on him, Lyoko didn't exist anymore! Neither did X.A.N.A. He punched his fist in the air just as Odd knocked on his door and opened it. He was wearing his Pajamas still and looked worn.

"You still sore from yesterday?" Jeremie asked his friend.

"You bet. Hey, get dressed we're going to meet the girls in the cafeteria in a few minutes, okay?" He ran his fingers through his purple streak and turned to walk to his room when Ulrich showed up.

"Hey, did anyone notice I was gone?" Ulrich asked Jeremie and Odd.

"You were gone?" Odd asked, trying to sound like a smart ass but a yawn ruined the moment.

"Yumi and I fell asleep watching movies. How are the girls?" Ulrich asked.

"They are probably about the same as you," Jeremie stated. "We all had a rough battle yesterday. No wonder everyone spent the night sleeping."

"Emma spent the night working on some video. That girl is insane," Odd announced. "Anyway, let's get ready and go down to breakfast. I'm starving."

Odd and Ulrich went to their room and Jeremie got ready in his. He met his friends in the hall and the three of them walked down to the cafeteria where Emma and Aelita already sat. Emma was on her laptop.

Ulrich sat down in his usual spot next to Emma, across from Aelita. He didn't feel like eating much. Meanwhile Jeremie and Odd went to get food.

"Why did you bring your laptop?" Ulrich asked Emma. He tried to see what she was doing but she closed the machine before he could see.

"Enough people have seen it," she said to him sternly. "It's a surprise. Odd saw it last night but I think he was super groggy so he won't remember it."

"When are you unveiling your surprise?" Ulrich asked curiously. She opened the laptop back up and he respected her wishes and didn't look. Odd and Jeremie came to the table and Odd tried looking at Emma's computer too and she covered the screen.

"it's a surprise, no more peeks!" She announced firmly. "I'll show you guys when it's done… should be done soon."

"Yumi texted me to see if we want to go out to lunch with her today. She says she wants to focus on her studies now since X.A.N.A. is history so she won't have so much time to spend with us after today," Aelita told us.

"I told her last night I'm coming," Ulrich told us.

"I think we're all in," Jeremie stated.

After breakfast Emma went to hide out in the art building to work on her video and jumped when her phone vibrated suddenly. She looked down at the clock and she realized that three hours had passed since breakfast. She picked her phone up, putting it on speaker so her hands were free to type.

"You ready for lunch?" Aelita's voice asked. "We're all waiting for you and Yumi is waiting at the restaurant."

"I'll meet you guys there! I'm nearly done, I'm just putting on the final touches and then I'll change and come meet you. Can you text me the address of the restaurant?" Emma asked.

"Of course," Aelita promised.

"Don't be too long," Ulrich advised.

"I won't be. à bientôt," she said and hung up.

Another ten minutes passed and Emma finally finished her video and she rendered it and saved the movie on a disk. She put it in a case and left the art building. She went to her room and changed quickly and followed Aelita's text directions.

When Emma finally arrived she seemed cheerful. She announced that her project was done and she wanted to share it after lunch.

Nobody wanted to wait to see it so everyone scarfed down their food. When they were done they went back to Yumi's house. Her parents were out with Hiroki for the afternoon. Emma played the video for her friends and watched their reaction anxiously. She'd put a bunch of clips together from Aelita, Yumi, and she building pillow forts during a sleep over to Pencak silat sessions. There was a long clip in the old factory during a X.A.N.A. attack, Emma had forgotten to stop recording once when she had to go into a scanner.

"Wow, what a film," Ulrich speculated when it was over.

"Just an overview of our friendship, I guess," Emma explained. "Do you all like it?"

"It's great," Jeremie praised.

"And all throughout the film a message is carried out flawlessly," Odd pointed out.

"What's that?" Yumi asked.

"That we're all pretty amazing," Odd responded with a grin. As he expected them to, everyone agreed.


End file.
